<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Books of Old by BluBooThalassophile</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209684">Books of Old</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluBooThalassophile/pseuds/BluBooThalassophile'>BluBooThalassophile</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Lore &amp; Legend [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Labyrinth (1986), The Mummy (1999)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Adult Sarah Williams (Labyrinth), Albus Dumbledore Being an Idiot, Asshole Harry, BAMF Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini is a Good Friend, Celtic Mythology &amp; Folklore, Changelings, Creature Blaise Zabini, Creature Sacred Twenty-Eight, Dark Jareth (Labyrinth), Fae &amp; Fairies, Fae Magic, Good Bill Weasley, Good Draco Malfoy, Grandma Evy O'Connell, Grandpa Rick O'Connell, Hermione Granger is a Good Friend, Jareth Being Jareth (Labyrinth), Manipulative Albus Dumbledore, Misguided Albus Dumbledore, Multi, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Possessive Jareth (Labyrinth), Prefect Draco Malfoy, Prejudice Against Slytherins, Protective Slytherins, Queen Sarah Williams (Labyrinth), Scottish Myths, Slow Build, Slytherins Being Slytherins, Stubborn Sarah Williams (Labyrinth), Veela Draco Malfoy, Wizarding Culture (Harry Potter), Wizarding History (Harry Potter), Wizarding Wars (Harry Potter), Wizarding World (Harry Potter), prefect hermione granger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:40:11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>88,954</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28209684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluBooThalassophile/pseuds/BluBooThalassophile</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Rewrite.</p><p>It started on the second worst night of her life, a happy trip to Inverness turned into a nightmare as she and her little brother were thrust into the Aboveworld's Wizarding War. Somehow that lead to Toby being a student at Hogwarts, Sarah working in a magical library, and old legends are coming back to life in the Aboveworld.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bill Weasley &amp; Sarah Williams, Daphne Greengrass &amp; Draco Malfoy &amp; Theodore Nott &amp; Blaise Zabini, Evy Carnahan O'Connell/Rick O'Connell, Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy, Jareth &amp; Sarah Williams, Jareth/Sarah Williams, Sarah Williams &amp; Toby Williams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Lore &amp; Legend [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2081364</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>151</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Sorry everyone who read the original. I did just plan on doing an edit and rewrite but somehow I screwed up posting it and ended up deleting the originals, so have patience with me while I do the same edits and rewrites and get caught up again. Again, my apologies for this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a lovely dream, where she sat beside him under the gnarled dead tree staring out at the endless scape of his kingdom, his domain, which he ruled with absolute power. The magic was pulsing around her rather peacefully as she sat there, it was comforting, and familiar. Her familiarity with this place was well beyond her time spent her when she was fifteen, she had revisited regularly since that night. He was settled soundlessly beside her; his heavy cloak was draped over her as they both sat there in silence. His feathery blond hair was tugged lightly on the breeze, tickling her cheek as she pressed herself against his side. It was just comforting now.</p><p>A loud bang had her jolting awake as she sat up in her bed in her small flat, which had her sighing as she fell back on her pillow. She didn’t think about her tall, blond, lean dance partner, instead she pushed herself up and got out of the bed with care. Her body was still sore, and her hands were still bandaged, though rather lightly in comparison to last week. Hobbling out of her bed she winced a little as the cold numbed her bare feet. Leaving her suite, she saw her brother standing in the solar, a little banged up but healing and a tray of food flat on the ground.</p><p>“What are you doing Toby?” she yawned as she carefully rubbed her eyes, her face was still a bit bruised and sore.</p><p>“Um… I was getting you breakfast,” he answered uncertainly.</p><p>“Thank you, but you could’ve just woken me up,” she admitted as she limped over and helped him pick up the mess of food before they sat at the small table near the narrow window. All she wanted was a hot cup of coffee with a splash of cream, but she would have some breakfast. The food disappeared and reappeared orderly and fresh on new plates which had her frowning but accepting the food as she saw a mug of coffee present.</p><p>“What has you awake at this hour?” she yawned as she picked up her coffee and poured some cream into it, mixing it up carefully before taking a sip.</p><p>Her little brother sat there, rather forlorn with a small shrug as he nibbled on his bacon.</p><p>“You can tell me,” she promised.</p><p>“Just a dream… not a nightmare though,” he muttered.</p><p>She nodded, his Islander’s jersey hung off his shoulder lopsidedly and his hair was spiked wildly because sleep. “I have dreams too,” she pointed out.</p><p>“About what?” Toby asked.</p><p>“Well, it depends,” she admitted. “Sometimes they’re nightmarish, sometimes they’re delightful, sometimes they’re adventurous and other times they’re comforting, it entirely depends.”</p><p>“I dreamed of before… you know, before magic, and…” Toby shuddered.</p><p>“Yes, I know,” she murmured. “It wasn’t your fault Toby, no matter what anyone says it was not your fault,” she promised him.</p><p>“Headmaster Dumbledore said…” he started again.</p><p>“I don’t give a fuck what that man says, you are ten almost eleven years old, you are a child,” Sarah stated firmly.</p><p>“But he said…” he tried again.</p><p>"Listen to me right now Toby!" she firmly cut off. "What happened to Irene and Dad, that is not your fault. And anyone who tells you differently can argue it with me. You are Ten Years Old. Ten. What happened to our parents, happened because bad people decided to do bad things. Hell, you can even argue it was my fault because I lost control of the car trying not to hit the idiot who materialized in the middle of the road! You could argue it was the tree, the weather, or any number of things, but you are ten, you are a child, in our care, you were not driving the car, you were not the one in the road, you weren't even the one to set the car on fire! This Is Not Your Fault!" she snapped. "And if Mr. Dumbledore should attempt to ever tell you that this is your fault, he will be answering to me."</p><p>"If I didn't have Magic…"</p><p>"Then it could have been something, anything else! Hell, it could've been gremlins! Toby this isn't your fault!" she snapped. "And I am so happy you survived it, and I miss Irene and Dad, more than I can tell you, but I am damn happy you are here, and alive, and we will figure this out."</p><p>"How?"</p><p>"Well, we're in a magic castle?" she offered with a weak smile as she set down her coffee. "There's supposedly a magic school here, so if you have Magic, maybe we stay here for now, you learn magic and I'll… I'll keep writing and work as Keeper of the Library."</p><p>"But…"</p><p>"Toby, we're going to figure this out," she promised. "One day at a time."</p><p>"I don't want you to hate me," he whispered.</p><p>"Never, kiddo, I could never hate you, I'd fight the King of Kings to keep you safe if I had to," she assured him with a smile. "I don't hate you, what happened, it's not your fault, so you will not think it was. Now, breakfast, and then we will speak with Mr. Dumbledore," she said firmly.  An envelope materialized at the table which had her sighing at the sight of Jareth’s ostentatious handwriting.</p><p>"Sarah, who's writing you?" he asked.</p><p>"Don't worry about it, Toby," she ordered tiredly as she plucked the envelope up and tucked it under her leg. Nearly ten years of Jareth’s antics and she was accustomed to his strangeness, this letter would not be an exception, especially since she had learned last night that it was his bloody castle they were being cared for in right now.</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“It’s my new employer, nothing more,” she assured him with a smile. “It’s going to be alright, kiddo, trust me,” she pleaded.</p><p>“I trust you Sarah,” he decided.</p><p>“Good, then we’ll sort this all out,” she promised.</p><p>“But… Mom and Dad…” he started.</p><p>“They would’ve wanted you safe, and alive, and we’ll figure it out,” she promised.</p><p>“You don’t hate me because I have Magic?” he whispered uncertainly.</p><p>“Tobias Jude Williams, I could never hate you, ever, for any reason,” she assured him firmly. “You’re my baby brother.”</p><p>“You sure you don’t hate me?” he murmured.</p><p>“Never,” she assured him as she got up and came around the table. “Never,” she promised as she hugged her baby brother tightly.</p><hr/><p>William ‘Bill’ Weasley sat in the Grimmuald Place’s dingy kitchen at the table, a newspaper in hand as he looked at last week’s headline. Apparently, Sirius Black wasn’t up on his Daily Prophet subscription, so all the news provided was a bit old. Which was still newer than anything he had been receiving in Egypt. Sipping his tea his mother bustled around; cleaning and caring for the neglected home of the Black’s while his siblings were reorganizing themselves.</p><p>He looked up when his father sat across from him then.</p><p>“It’s good to have you home, my boy!” Arthur declared happily.</p><p>“It’s… nice to be in London again,” he lied. He had only accepted this desk job because of Dumbledore wanting an inside man to monitor and track the Death Eater’s fund being moved inside of Gringotts. No one had ever infiltrated Gringotts, the goblins were notoriously untrusting of outsiders, and they did not trust wizards. Dumbledore had asked him, because of his good relationships with his goblin superiors to transfer to the desk job at Gringotts that would give him in hopes of gathering intel.</p><p>“You can tell the truth,” Arthur prompted.</p><p>“I am going to do what’s best for the Order, including taking the job, Dad,” he promised with a wry smile. Being out of Egypt would be a change, and after his last mission it would probably be for the best that he got out of Egypt before he had the muggle archeologists asking him more questions about what he was doing in Egyptian tombs. He was a bit surprised how often he had to contact or work with Doctor Evelyn O’Connell about Egyptology. She was a leading doctor in the field, both because of and in spite of her age. Despite being an old, widowed muggle who Bill had interacted with a lot, he didn’t doubt she could figure out he was a liar and a wizard if he wasn’t careful. There was only so long though that he could claim he was nothing more than a Cambridge graduate student (whatever that was) before they would stop believing him; so, it was a good thing he was being transferred.</p><p>“Good man,” Arthur nodded.</p><p>Bill smiled dryly. “Only doing what I was raised to do,” he omitted. He knew his parents and how brave they were when they were younger than him, they were fighting a war.</p><p>“I know this isn’t what you wanted,” Arthur said.</p><p>“I liked being a Curse Breaker,” he admitted. “But this is what I’m meant to do.”</p><hr/><p>Sarah was careful about getting dressed, pulling on a favorite pair of jeans she had as well as a loose shirt which wouldn’t irritate her abrasions and then a loose sweater to keep herself warm. Once she had her hair pulled into a ponytail, she sat down to read the letter Jareth had dropped off for her. Part of her dreaded this but she hadn’t had much tome to actually discuss with him what it meant for her to be in his Above section of the Labyrinth since apparently that was a thing. Jareth’s elegant, ostentatious handwriting was rather demanding and bold just to look upon, sighing she pulled open the heavy parchment letter.</p><p>
  <em>'Lady Sarah,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'As Master of the Labyrinth, King of Goblins, High Prince of the Seelie Court and High Prince to the Unseelie Court, I, King Jareth, hereby employ you to the 'Hogwarts' (why the hell did they name my Castle something so hideous! It is a disgrace!) Castle Keeper of the Library and Lady of my Castle.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'You will accompany Mister Tobias to Diagon Alley where you will be taken to Gringotts Bank (a proper goblin name for my business, magic mortal parasites have no respect for names!) where you will be taken to meet with Griphook, as Champion of the Labyrinth you will be given a vault, permit no parasite to accompany you. Even Mister Tobias cannot go to the vault until such a time you have properly educated him about the Underground. The vault you will be accessing is number 13, my personal vault, as it is the right of the Champion to lay claim to their spoils, this is a part of it, and you have earned this.</em>
</p><p><em>'Tell no one of the Underground, merely hand the second piece of parchment within this envelope to the Headmaster and Minister of Magic. (</em><strong>HA!</strong> <em> Even they cannot revoke my decree for the Castle is </em><strong>MINE</strong><em>.) If you should need anything call for Mopsy, if she is unavailable one of the other House Elves in my employment will attend to you, merely ask (yes, the parasites foolishly believe they have enslaved my subjects, but they are employed by me). The Castle is a part of my Labyrinth and an extension of my will, as you are its Champion it will listen to you, do not be afraid to ask it to take you to where you need to go. If you should need access to the Underground the Castle will supply a route.</em></p><p>
  <em>'I advise you to permit Mister Tobias to attend school here, it is a fine education for his kind of magic. If at any point you or he are in danger the Labyrinth will bring you both to the Underground, in that regard you are protected. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>'A list of extra supplies you will need for Mister Tobias are on the third bit of parchment. These supplies will not be listed on the needed school supplies, but after reading over that dismal list I insist you buy them. (Also, do not bother with the owl, if you should need to send post, I will handle it personally, Above parasites have a habit of sticking their noses where they do not belong, and they will be investigating you and Mister Tobias or search for a connection to the Underground which will simply not do).</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'The fourth piece of parchment within this envelope will be containing a list of things you should look into buying, if you cannot find something on this list, go to Gringotts and ask Griphook. The goblins are eager to serve their Champion, and Lady, as such please secure what I have listed for yourself. It is not only for your protection but your education. Wizards are notorious for attempting to shun 'muggles', the items listed are things to aid you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'I will be making travel arrangements for you and Mister Tobias to be Inverness from my Castle to claim your parents’ bodies, all legal matters and matters of the funeral will be simple enough to arrange, if you are in need of aid use the crystal on the dresser (you should remember how they work as you've caused me to shatter many of them!). If there complications of any sort do not hesitate to ask for aid, there is Above conflicts brewing that will create complications unnecessarily. If you must return to New York I will make arrangements, and aid in such matters as needed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Finally, as you will now be residing in my Castle to remain close to your brother, I demand a weekly game of challenge in person, not the dreams; as I have had no worthy opponents since well before you and have not had any after; <strong>I am bored!</strong> The High King's court is dull, and if I do not have a worthy opponent soon, I might implode, there will be weekly games, no I will not make you run the bloody Labyrinth again. You, my precious, have somehow cheated and the Labyrinth will bow to your will as needed, it's very vexing, but eliminates that game. However, I am partial to a game of chess. And yes, you will do this as you reside in my Castle now, and therefore are subjected to my rule, not my will but this is a royal decree so therefore, my rule!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'The fifth piece of parchment contained within this envelope is for you to give to Griphook when you go to Gringotts by the way, it is merely a formality but please provide it. Above goblins are peculiar about proper paperwork.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'-Jareth,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>-King of Goblins, Master of the Labyrinth, High Prince of the Seelie Courts and High Prince of the Unseelie Courts, etc. (I am not writing out all my formal titles! I've done that enough for the last year!)</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'P.S. Do not share with anyone information about the existence of the Underground, or my own existence, do not share my name, and do not mention anything about my titles. There are many here relying on your discretion about our existence for our survival, not including your friends. Also, your friends have agreed to seeing you Above in my Castle, but the arrangements will have to be made carefully, I will discuss those with you in person at a later date.'</em>
</p><p>Sarah scowled at his letter and wanted to go track his Tightness down to kick his leather clad ass for declaring that she was to play a game with him weekly. However, he had used please, more than once in the letter. Sighing she rubbed her brow as she sat down before the tray offered to her. The orb he had spoken of was resting right on the center of the dresser in her room, which was something she wanted to throw it at the wall but refrained because she knew she wasn’t mad at Jareth or what he was doing, but rather at the situation she found herself in with Toby. A sigh escaped her as she sat there. She would need to contact her grandfather, and probably her great-grandparents to; and her mother; that thought had her cringing and banishing her family from her mind to focus on</p><p>She did wonder about the Lady of the Castle bit, because in most literature that was a title for the wife of the king or something, but he mostly addressed her as the Champion of the Labyrinth which had her wondering what exactly that should entail. Setting the letter to the side she looked through the other four pieces of parchment in her hand.</p><p>The second was very formal, written in clear, elegant script, with what appeared to be an official seal and signed by the Master of the Castle. She was going to guess that there were some strange relations between the Underground and Above with how he had signed this and with how he wrote of the Above in his letter. But she was pleased this bit of parchment was formally addressed and letter of employment, complete with wages and her legal name. It was a bit disturbing that Jareth had her legal name, and it was more disturbing to see it written fully in his hand, but it was formal enough to feel intimidating.</p><p>The third piece of parchment was as he said a list of supplies as well as reasons for her to get them for Toby which she was surprised at. He must have sensed her reluctance about trusting him because this list was much more… personalized as he seemed to have mastered sarcasm on paper to guilt her about her suspicions.</p><p>The fourth piece of parchment as written in a terribly similar manner for her, which had her rolling her eyes; especially at the bottom of the page when he wrote in all caps '<em>Don't roll your eyes at me!</em>'</p><p>The fifth piece of parchment was an official document supplying information about the vault in question, she read this over as she accepted the floating coffee much and frowned. This was a detailed record of the account, talking of deposits, withdrawals, loans, and the credit work, it was also going over the details and sums within the vault. It appeared that Jareth was highly organized with his money, though she wondered what the niffler charge was. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when she read the sum total set aside for the Champion of the Labyrinth; he hadn't just set her aside a handsome sum, he had set her aside a bloody fortune! She nearly dropped the coffee mug as she stared at the total on the paper.</p><p>“Sarah! There’s someone at the door!” Toby called.</p><p>“Coming,” she called out as she stood up carefully, hissing in pain at her jarred shoulder. Getting to the solar she brushed past an anxious Toby who was wearing their father’s old Mets’ hoodie. Opening the heavy door that was the entrance of the solar to be greeted by a tall, dark, sardonic looking man with a large, hooked nose glaring pointedly down at her.</p><p>"Can I help you?" she asked.</p><p>"I am Professor Snape, I am to bring you, Miss Williams to Headmaster Dumbledore."</p><p>"Let Toby and I freshen up a bit," she dismissed as she shut the door in his face. "Toby, go wash your face and comb your hair," she ordered. The house elf who had been attending to her quarters appeared when her brother when to his room to do as she told him.</p><p>“Kingy thought Lady should need new shoes,” Mopsy smiled.</p><p>“Thank you Mopsy,” she nodded. There was a snap and suddenly the shoes were on her feet. Sarah’s lips twitched in a small smile as she looked at the stylish boots in her preferred style and how comfortable they felt on her feet.</p><p>“Of course, Lady!” the house elf giggled as she disappeared.</p><p>“Who were you talking to?” Toby asked her when he reappeared with his shoes on now and his darkening hair at least in some semblance of order. She riffled through the thick envelope of her letters from Jareth for the official one of employment with his seal on it.</p><p>“The house elf, come on, we need to go,” she said pulling out the paper before she reached over to open the door. Stuffing the rest of the letter in her back pocket she turned to look at the Professor she had shut out moments earlier.</p><p>“The Headmaster only wishes to speak to you,” the Professor declared with a calm, tempered, even, cold tone in his deep voice.</p><p>“I only go if I have Toby with me,” she stated firmly, drawing herself up to her full height.  She wasn’t as tall as the man, not even close but she wasn’t a short woman either.</p><p>“Very well,” he replied through gritted teeth before he made a sweeping gesture as he turned to lead them along. Toby gripped her hand tightly, pressing himself closely to her side as she walked alone; hiding her limp. Her knee and ankle were throbbing violently and reminding her she wasn’t completely healed but she didn’t submit to the pain, it was a simple problem of mind over matter. She didn’t mind and it didn’t matter. Professor Snape came to a swishing stop as he turned on her, glaring fiercely which had her tilting her head up and keeping her shoulders back. Sarah refused to be cowed by this man, she refused to submit to his bullying presence; she had gone toe to toe with the King of Goblins, this man did not intimidate or scare her despite his size and dramatics.</p><p>“Mister Williams will remain here." Professor Snape declared.</p><p>"My brother will be accompanying me, or I will not be going," she stated as she glared up at the wizard.</p><p>"This meeting is between you and the Headmaster alone."</p><p>"And considering the treatment of my brother prior to my finding him in this office was dismal at best, I will not leave him alone with the likes of a pompous ass posturing like a gothic peacock," she retorted.</p><p>Snape's eyes narrowed as he took a step towards her which had her tilting her chin up daringly.</p><p>"The Headmaster will not…" Snape started</p><p>"He will have to understand," she stated.</p><p>The griffon leapt elegantly out of the way as two of Jareth’s goblins materialized in spikey armor and sharp weapons in hand. They both barely came up to her knees, but she was not fooled having been tormented by goblins as a young teen.</p><p>“We’s were sent by Kingy to escort Lady! No ones sees us!” the one on the left declared.</p><p>She nodded slightly to them as she brushed past the professor and walked up the narrow staircase, Toby’s hand firmly clasped in her own. Admittedly, she missed the confused look of Professor Snape as she walked by because she was getting into a fury the closer, she got to the Headmaster. They both reached the office; she squeezed her brother’s hand tightly as she gave him a tight smile before the door was sprung open by her goblin escorts. The office was rather large, and the old man sat imposingly behind a desk, she could see his grandfatherly look faltering when she entered with Toby before he kept it in place.</p><p>"Ah, Miss Williams!" Dumbledore exclaimed happily.</p><p>"Toby, stay here," she whispered. "Just sit on the sofa."</p><p>"Can I read a book?"</p><p>"Yes," Dumbledore answered. "I find this one very good for young children!" Dumbledore exclaimed as he presented as book. Sarah looked at it before handing it to Toby and walking towards Dumbledore's desk.</p><p>"Miss Williams first…"</p><p>"This is for you," she stated and handed him the second bit of parchment Jareth had given her. The bemused look on Dumbledore's face faded into one of disbelief as he read over the parchment she had handed him.</p><p>"You cannot expect…" he started.</p><p>"I think you'll find I can," she replied primly. "The Master of the Castle is employing me and if Toby is to attend school here I will be remaining, he's just lost his parents in a violent way, and was informed that because he possessed Magic that his family was killed. Which simply is not true," she said levelly.</p><p>"I did not mean to offend," he started.</p><p>"No, you traumatized, but what I cannot figure out is why," Sarah retorted levelly. There was a flash in Dumbledore's eyes as she kept her face impassive. "I will need more information on the school for my brother and we will be going to Inverness within the week to deal with our family's affairs."</p><p>"Miss Williams, I am the Master of this Castle," Dumbledore started as he began to rise.</p><p>"No, I believe that you are the Headmaster of Hogwarts," she stated as she stood up straight. "I will take the information now, and a full list of school supplies."</p><p>"I will provide the materials as needed."</p><p>"You will provide all the materials I have asked for, and if you do not I will ask the Master of the Castle; as he is an old friend of sorts, of mine and he will be more than happy to provide them for me. Feel free to send the contract of employment to whomever you need, I believe they will find it impeccable," she stated.</p><p>"Miss Williams, you should be cautious going forward," he warned lowly.</p><p>"Professor Dumbledore," she cut him off. "I have no quarrel with you, but I do not trust people who blame ten-year-olds for the actions of adults. I might not know the conflict my brother and I have fallen into, but I need no warning from the likes of you."</p><p>She turned and walked to Toby before smiling at him. "Come on kiddo, lets go explore a bit," she offered.</p><p>"I must insist you be escorted by a professor."</p><p>"Fair enough," she decided as Toby tossed aside the book before they were walking out of the room.</p><p>"Sarah?"</p><p>"Yes?"</p><p>"Who's the Master of the Castle?" he asked her.</p><p>"An adversarial friend of mine," she murmured. "Do not worry about it Toby, if you attend school here then I will be here too," she promised. He relaxed as he took her hand and leaned on her while they walked.</p><hr/><p>Jareth was humming to himself as he juggled a few crystals out of boredom while he waited for Mopsy's report, the House Elf was already thoroughly besotted with Sarah. He had been rather audacious and made the first moves to secure Sarah and Toby in the Labyrinth's safety, he knew it would probably have her furious with him, but he would rather her be furious than reckless. It was also the first in person contact he’d had with Sarah in about ten years, he was stunned she hadn’t banished him on sight when she had woken up from her injuries. Injuries he wanted to remove but she had declined to let him heal.</p><p>There was a crack in the air which had him disappearing all his crystals as he turned to Mopsy who was smiling happily.</p><p>"Lady very good, King, beautiful and kind and very patient," Mopsy declared as she bowed to him and skipped over to him.</p><p>"What happened?" he demanded.</p><p>"Lady was summoned to Headmaster's office, she thwarted him and kept her position, I is eager to serve such a Lady!" Mopsy reverently informed him.</p><p>He nodded and dismissed her. He could feel her moving through the castle, the Labyrinth was humming with pleasure at her return which was a bit of an annoyance. The moment she had taken a bite of the peach she had become a part of his Labyrinth, the moment he had sung to her his song, and danced his dance with her she had become a part of him though and it was unsettling. It was unsettling to feel her again, especially after she had declared he had no power over her. Foolish girl had torn his kingdom asunder, which had been infuriating and impressive, it was only recently that the kingdom had started to feel whole again, though he had hidden this blow from both his parents' Courts.</p><p>Jareth shuddered to think what would happen if his father or mother discovered Sarah.</p><p>Jareth was looking forward to rematches with Sarah though being held in person rather than in their normal dream liaisons. She was only generous enough to engage him when she was in command of her dreams and invited him, which had initially been frustrating but now it was rather entertaining. Still, it had been unbearably long since he had last possessed a worthy opponent, in wit, repartee, and will. It would be interesting to play against his greatest adversary again.</p><p>He wondered though how Sarah had gotten herself entangled with the Magic that remained Above and what the parasites wanted her for. He knew they despised non-magical beings on principle, though Sarah wasn’t exactly non-magical given her relationship with his Labyrinth, she wasn’t like the parasites and he knew that would scare them. He would wait until tonight to see her though, in person, she was residing in his Above residence so he would see her, if only to find out what the bloody hell happened. She had been safe, untouched, unharmed for nearly a decade and in a single night she had been battered, and bruised and returned to his Labyrinth bloody, the merely knowledge offended and infuriated him, simultaneously.</p><p>Jareth would have to ensure the care and safety of his Lady and her brother; he didn’t mind that because he was doing that anyways. But then he had turned her from his sights for a moment and this happened, he wanted to know why.</p><p>He would have to gather intel from above, rubbing his temple he walked to his study and pulled a registry of the twenty-eight families he knew served him which resided Above and started sifting through the bloodlines to find them.</p><hr/><p>Hermione watched with a heavy heart as she sent her parents off believing they were Monica and Wendell Wilkins from Bunbury, in Western Australia. A small, strangled sob was buried in her chest as she grabbed her Hogwarts Trunk and walked to the fireplace. Gathering up the floo powder she looked once more at her childhood home, which she had completely erased herself from. Her breath hitched as she closed her eyes.</p><p>“Number 12 Grimmauld Place,” she called out clearly just as the family who had bought her home from her pulled up with their moving van.</p><p>Hermione disappeared in the green flames and rematerialized in the home of the Black family where the Weasleys were residing currently.</p><p>Bill Weasley was the one sitting by the kitchen hearth, where she had entered the house.</p><p>“Hullo,” he greeted as he twisted around to see her.</p><p>“Hi,” she shyly greeted the eldest Weasley. She had never really had much interaction with him, only having met him last year at the Quidditch World Cup when the Weasleys had invited her to go with them.</p><p>“Hermione,” he guessed.</p><p>“Yes,” she smiled weakly. “Is Ron here?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes, Ron and Gin are helping mum with a spot of cleaning upstairs,” he answered.</p><p>“I’ll go… what’s that?” she asked pausing at the table to see his file laid out.</p><p>“Hm, oh, that, don’t rightly know, I was working on it back in Egypt,” he answered. “I’m copying my notes to send off to the next Curse Breaker to study it,” he admitted. “You can see how strange it is though, it’s Celtic in design, see these marks and runes, these are what you see around here, but there’s also something else, I can’t figure it out.” He admitted. “We dated it to be about to Second Dynasty of Egypt, but we haven’t really figured out what it was doing there or what it is, it’s a powerful artifact though. Analyses also tells us that it’s from the same stone as the Stonehenge, though why it was a crystal orb I don’t know; I’d think it was a prophecy from the hall of mysteries if it weren’t so bloody ancient.” he explained. “Anyways, I don’t know what it is so I’m compiling my professional notes and making copies for my successor and myself.”</p><p>“Interesting,” she admitted.</p><p>“Bloody infuriating,” he muttered as he shoved a pencil behind his ear. “I have no bloody clue why it was in Egypt or where it’s gone now, disappeared earlier this year, just vanished from where we had it contained.” He explained as he showed her the old photos.</p><p>“So, it’s… stolen?” she asked.</p><p>“I bloody wish, thing just… poofed out of my vault,” he clarified.</p><p>Hermione nodded but left him be, she was too emotionally drained right now to want anything to do with the mysteries of the magical world. Making her way through the tiny town house she found a room where Ginny was bunking, and obviously waiting for her as there was another cot pulled out for her.</p><p>Dropping her trunk, she fell onto the bed and buried her face in the pillow, so she didn’t break down sobbing. All of her research had lead to her getting away with the most illegal of acts, practicing underage magic as well as erasing her from her family so Voldemort wouldn’t find them. And it broke her heart.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah’s inner knee was killing her as she sat down biting back the stifling groans of pain as she and Toby settled on the side of a grassy hill. The crash had definitely bruised her ribs and shoulder, but she was relatively certain that her tackling that masked figure had wrenched her knee somehow, but as she could still move about and walk, she was hoping it was merely a sprain. Staring up at the clear blue Scottish skies she waited for toby to actually talk about what was on his mind. She had also noted that her little goblin guards were still around her and Toby, but no one else seemed to have noticed the goblins.</p><p>“Can’t we just go back to Oxfordshire?” Toby whispered. “Grandma Evy would know what to do,” he muttered.</p><p>“We’ll go there after we get everything in Inverness,” she promised. That was where Robert and Irene’s bodies had gone, and where she could get in contact with her father’s lawyers as well as Evelyn and Rick so they could go back to her mother’s family home in Oxfordshire.</p><p>“You don’t think…” Toby started.</p><p>“Don’t think what?” she asked as she carefully lifted her bruised arm to be behind her head.</p><p>“You don’t think that they’ll… cause I’m not… I’m not from your mom?” he started.</p><p>“Toby,” she reached up with her good arm to touch his cheek, he looked down then. “Let me be clear, Grandma Evy and Grandpa Rick love you as if you were one of their own, family isn’t about blood, it’s about choice. It doesn’t matter that you’re not Linda’s kid, what matters is you’re my brother and they love you, it’s that simple.”</p><p>“Sarah… I want mom,” he whimpered as he laid down and pressed himself into her side.</p><p>“I miss her too,” she murmured honestly.</p><p>“It isn’t fair.” He muttered which had her snorting a little as an old memory came to the front of her mind.</p><p> “Life is never fair, Toby, it will take delights in taking everything from you, but this isn’t the end, and you will find new things in life which you will love, they won’t replace our parents, but they will be things to love just as fiercely as you loved mom and dad,” she whispered.</p><p>“It just isn’t fair,” he pouted.</p><p>“I wonder what your basis for the comparison is,” she murmured to herself as she ran her fingers through his hair.</p><p>He didn’t respond to that as he pouted against her side, but she didn’t continue to elaborate for him either as she brushed her fingers through his hair. She could feel the professor who had followed her and Toby around watching her it was the same hawkish expression that he had had when he greeted her at the door. Sarah would’ve shouted at him to fuck off but she didn’t because she knew no matter what she did that headmaster wanted her and Toby watched. The wind tugged on her loose strands of black hair.</p><hr/><p>Dumbledore looked up from the letter, which had a powerful compulsion magic tearing apart and rearranging his wards, putting Miss Sarah Williams at the center of the wards; to see Severus entering his solar.</p><p>“Severus,” he greeted. “And what of the Williams?” he asked as he settled back in his chair.</p><p>“There is nothing about them that is remarkable,” he answered in a level tempered tone as he came to sit across the desk. “I have obtained the memories from Peter Pettigrew, the woman is nothing, the boy displayed powerful magic, strong enough to deflect the Dark Lord’s death curse. If not for the boy they would’ve never come to Hogwarts, if I were to wager, the boy’s Magic reached out for a safe place to go, being so close to the Hogwarts it reacted to pull them here.”</p><p>“The night of Mister Digory’s death though…” Dumbledore muttered. “It is puzzling, what were they doing so near Riddle?”</p><p>“There is a muggle motorway nearby,” he answered. “I supposed the family was travelling by a muggle vehicle and were in the way,” he explained.</p><p>“It is odd,” Dumbledore muttered.</p><p>“They are siblings grieving,” Severus shrugged nonchalantly. “The school has not noticed them, but then I imagine they were unconscious until the end of term and only awakened after then students had been sent home.”</p><p>“A child capable of accidental Magic which upheaves ancient wards is not to be underestimated,” he murmured to himself. Mister Williams and Miss Williams had come crashing through Hogwarts wards, in fact Mister Williams had generated a shield of pure magic around him and his sister, even when they were unconscious. It had taken four professors to break the shield enough to just levitate the pair to the healing wing of Hogwarts. Their arrival had also had the Triwizard Tournament’s dangerous maze reacting around the pair, wrapping around them. Breaking the wards and control anyone had had on that maze, it had seemed to come to life on it’s own. Whoever Tobias Williams was, he generated some of the strongest, purest magic Dumbledore had ever encountered.</p><p>It was stronger than his own, which was unsettling.</p><p>But more unsettling, Miss Sarah Williams, despite no magical test revealing anything, she was impervious to any and all attempts to magically heal her wounds. Madame Pomfrey had turned to Herbalism and muggle medicine for the muggle woman who had remained comatose for a week. The moment her brother had woken up, Miss Williams had come to life and when she had…</p><p>“The muggle woman is unsettling,” he stated firmly as he looked at the young man across from him.</p><p>“She is an unusual woman, but nothing particularly unsettling,” Severus stated.</p><p>“Have you tried legilimency on the girl?”</p><p>“No, she is a muggle, I see no point,” he replied evenly.</p><p>“You should,” he ordered as he handed over the parchment Miss Williams had handed him, the one tearing his wards apart to rearrange them around her rather than him. He had tried legilimency on Miss Williams when she had been glaring fiercely at him, but he had not been able to see a thing within her mind.</p><p>“Master of the Castle?” he questioned as he read. “I thought…” Severus looked up from the parchment. “This is a forgery. Obviously.”</p><p>“I would agree, but this is rearranging even the most ancient of wards to wrap around her,” Dumbledore explain.</p><p>“That’s what that is?” Severus asked with a raised brow.</p><p>“I do not know why but all of them are arranging to be around her,” Dumbledore muttered. “Other than the ones I personally placed at the start of my tenure,” he muttered.</p><p>“I will see what I can derive from her,” Severus decided.</p><p>“Minerva will be looking into the Williams’ family history,” Dumbledore sighed. There was something ancient about the powers the letter held, beyond the compulsion to follow as instructed. The writing was beautiful, elegant, bold, demanding, ostentatious in the calligraphy style, and familiar for some reason, he couldn’t place why. Also, the seal in place of the signature… it was two infinity symbols engraved in a circle on a rather horned shape which was upside down. Unusual, familiar too, it was something he had seen before, but he couldn’t place where he had seen it, or what it was, or where it was from.</p><p>“Have you ever seen such a seal?” he asked Severus.</p><p>Severus just frowned with a small shrug. “It is not something I know,” he stated.</p><p>“I will have to study this mark, it’s powerful magic,” Dumbledore muttered. “I think I have seen this before.”</p><p>“It is not a mark I recognize,” Severus stated as he stood. “For now, Miss Williams and Mister Williams are residing in the solar you have provided for them since Miss Williams came demanding her brother.”</p><p>“I did not provide them a solar, I sent them to the guest rooms,” he stated.</p><p>“Well, she resides in an apartment of her own with her brother, on the north east wing of Hogwarts,” he explained.</p><p>“There are no apartments on the northeast wing, no solars, it has been sealed off since long before I became headmaster,” Dumbledore stated. “Yes, it was believed to have been sealed off by Rowena Ravenclaw and Godric Gryffindor themselves.”</p><p>“It was fully open when I escorted her to the guest rooms,” he stated in confusion.</p><p>“It appears there is more than meets the eye regarding Miss Williams and her brother,” he murmured. Dumbledore didn’t think there was much about the castle he did not know, but there were surprises that he had not expected happening because of Miss Williams and her brother. He didn’t like it, for changes or hidden things to be revealed never bode well for anyone in Hogwarts.</p><p>There was a volatile, uncontrolled nature about Miss Williams too which he did not like, he would not be able to control her. He did not like people he could not control being in his domain, especially not with Riddle on the loose now. Dumbledore wondered if the Williams were plants from Riddle to the school, they could be a threat.</p><p>From experience he did not like what he could not control or predict.</p><hr/><p>Sarah finished getting Toby tucked into bed for the night before she settled herself in the solar by the window rubbing her wrist as she iced her knee, thanks to the ice from the house elf earlier.</p><p>“Hoggle, I need you,” she called out as she sat down on the windowsill looking at the mirror in her room.</p><p>“Hello Precious,” he purred as he materialized from the shadows. “Hogwash is banished from this particular section of my Labyrinth.”</p><p>“I need Hoggle, and Ludo, and Sir Didymus! You can’t keep me from them! Why are you here, instead of stalking my dreams, like you usually do; why are you here, Above?” she asked as she rested her head on the stone behind her to eye him as he walked into the light, and elegantly sprawled himself over the seat he had materialized. Her breath hitched seeing him in person for the first time in nearly a decade. He looked the same, his hair ever wild and feathery, his clothes were tight and fitted, and his boots, the man looked like a flamboyant sort of pirate-rockstar. One pupil was larger than the other, giving him the appearance of two different eye colors, his face was set in sharp impossible angles and sharper lines, making him unbelievably handsome and utterly dangerous just to look upon.</p><p>“As to your friends, I am not keeping you from them, but Hedgewart is banished from this section of my Labyrinth for the safety of my Labyrinth. I will arrange your friends to visit you though while you reside here. And I was just as surprised as you are when my goblins informed me of your return to my domain. It has been a while Sarah-mine, you look cruel as ever.”</p><p>“You have no power over me,” she reminded him as he started toying with his crystals. The only times they interacted was in dreams when she had invited him into them, but even then, they were equals; he did not have power over her in her dreams.</p><p>“No, but this is my castle, and while you are here, you are subjected to my rule as King,” he stated with a smile that showed off his very sharp teeth as his wild eyes turned onto her.</p><p>Sarah blinked at that declaration and groaned as her head fell back. “Hell.”</p><p>This week could not get any worse, now she had to deal with the King of Goblins in the flesh.</p><p>“How is this your castle, if this is a school for witchcraft and wizardry?” she demanded as she rubbed her throbbing temple as she assessed him. Now it was his turn to look a bit startled. “I've had a hell of a few days and now have to think about decisions, and I need information to make some of those decisions.”</p><p>“I am surprised at your direct words,” he admitted. “Normally we have a bit of foreplay.”</p><p>“Lemme guess, you expected me to do something like make a ‘wish’.” Sarah was going to guess that she had hit the proverbial nail on the head with how he was assessing her, and he sighed dramatically. “Don't, Jareth, I'm not going to make a wish, or anything like that, I just… what is going on!?” she asked shakily as the week was finally catching up to her and she sat there.</p><p>“We will need tea,” Jareth decided standing.</p><p>There was a loud crack in the air to reveal the house elf Jareth had summoned. She saw the house elf that had been tending to her since she had awoken, Mopsy, bowing to Jareth as he spoke quietly. Then Mopsy disappeared before Jareth settled in his seat, sprawling out again. There was another crack and Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin when there was a tray of tea and scones.</p><p>She didn't know what to make of this, which had her eyeing it warily, Jareth seemed very amused by her, which had her glaring at him.</p><p>“No sense in poisoning you,” he assured her as he levitated a cup and put sugar and cream as needed for himself. Sarah's eyes narrowed before she gave in and served herself some tea, she was surprised at how awake she felt now with the warm drink in her system.</p><p>“This is my castle,” Jareth stated firmly. “It is one of the places the Underground and the Above intersect,” he explained. “‘Hogwarts’ as the parasites have taken to calling it, is part of my Labyrinth.”</p><p>“What is a school of witchcraft and wizardry doing in the Goblin King's castle?” she asked as she snuck a scone.</p><p>“I gave it to my nephew as a wedding gift,” he shrugged.</p><p>“You gave a castle, as a wedding gift?” she asked in a bit of disbelief.</p><p>“They needed a place to live, I did not have much use for it as it resides Above and far from my subjects. It was also only my home from time to time, so,” he shrugged. “I did retain power over it though as it is a part of my Labyrinth and a part of my will by extension.”</p><p>“Of course, perfectly normal reason to give a castle away,” she sighed as she shook her head. “And why do you let the 'parasites' as you call them, use it if you don't like them.”</p><p>“What better places to gather information than banks and secret schools?” he asked as if this were obvious. “I am aware of some of the most powerful mortals who are magically inclined because they reside in my castle temporarily,” he shrugged. “Besides, the mortals forgot it's mine, not theirs.” He smiled that sharp smile again.</p><p>“Why were we attacked?” she asked.</p><p>“That is something I am still figuring out, precious thing.”</p><p>“It wasn’t you or because of you?” she clarified.</p><p>“I should be offended you would think me capable of such cruelty, but given the events I cannot blame you,” he muttered as his eyes narrowed on her. “No, I did not attack you, you were not attacked because you are Champion of the Labyrinth, and you were not attacked because of our association.”</p><p>“Then why?” she repeated tiredly.</p><p>“To be honest, I do not know. I speculate, you were truly in the wrong place at the wrong time, but then I have not paid much mind to the Above in a long time outside my bound duties.”</p><p>“What do you know about what’s happening…here, Above, in the Wizarding World?” she questioned.</p><p>“Not much, merely that some mortals are playing a dangerous game they do not understand, many of the Underground nobility are recalling our Above subjects,” he said absently.</p><p>“But not you?”</p><p>“Not yet.”</p><p>"Why aren’t you recalling your subjects?" she demanded sharply.</p><p>“Many a reason, but mainly because they do not desire to be recalled,” he answered.</p><p>“Why wouldn’t they want to be recalled?”</p><p>“Many have lives Above, have found places they call home, or found a freedom in their pursuits here, many have also forgotten they are bound to me,” he answered.</p><p>“What aren’t you telling me?”</p><p>“A great many things, no doubt, precious,” he assured her with a razor's edge smile.</p><p>“About this school,” she clarified.</p><p>“It is a good place for your brother, for now,” he replied cautiously. “It is a good school, for his kind of magic.”</p><p>“Is it safe?”</p><p>“As safe as any other place,” he responded honestly. “My subjects are fond of you and Little Jareth,” he mused.</p><p>“It's Toby.”</p><p>“Toby,” he conceded.</p><p>“Why are you taking care of me?” she asked him tiredly.</p><p>His mismatched eyes stared at her as if she had just grown a second head. “I think that is enough. But I should warn you, now that you are here, it would be safest for you to remain here, but be wary, nothing is as it shall seem and this is a far more dangerous game than our own, Sarah-mine,” he warned before he disappeared in a cloud of glitter.</p><p>“I hate it when he does that,” she huffed as she spat out some of the glitter.</p><p>A ragged breath left her as she closed her eyes against the tears and set aside her tea. It was like an anvil had come crashing down on her chest then as she sat there, she had just lost her parents! And Toby was probably now relying on her to be the adult. She needed to get to Inverness, soon, and call her great-grandmother, sooner rather than later; Grandma Evy would know what to do in this situation. Sarah’s hand covered her mouth as she sat there trembling, her lips quivering as she fought the tears back by sheer will power. She wanted to run from Hogwarts like her hair was on fire, but her knee would never permit that action, also, she didn’t know why but being in the confines of the Labyrinth made her feel safe in a way that night had seemed to have stolen from her.</p><p>Here she was in a familiar safe place, safe from whatever had killed Irene and her dad, whatever it was that moved in the shadows and wore a skull for a face. Never had anything terrified her so much, not even Jareth in retrospect. She could still feel the mind numbing, freezing terror wash over her when that thing lifted its hand and pointed at Toby as it looked her dead in the eye, his reptilian red eyes.</p><p>Toby had somehow saved them when he was screaming for her; she had full on tackled the man when he had opened his mouth to speak; terror be damned no one would harm her baby brother!</p><hr/><p>Jareth had been startled when he felt Sarah ripple through his magic, the way the Labyrinth was humming welcome to the return of it's champion. It had had him flying over the Labyrinth to check it over, goblins however, the ones that followed Sarah around, informed him that 'Lady was at Above home'. It had taken a moment for that to register in his mind; it had been so long since he had used his Above Castle that he sometimes forgot that he had it and that it was a part of his Labyrinth.</p><p>Normally he did everything in his power to resist his Lady, for she had not known what she had done with her childish claim so long ago. He was not inclined to inform her of what exactly she had done either because he did not want her understand the shift she had created between them; he did not trust the teenager to not tear his world asunder again. Though how she turned his world in the most unexpected ways!</p><p>Sarah had first invited him to her dreams after her run. He had dreaded the connection she permitted and reveled in her presence again. At first she had been livid seeing him, until he reminded her he had no power over her or her dreams and was only permitted in her dreams when she <em><strong>invited</strong> </em>him. After the initial distrust and resentment was placed aside, they had found a tenuous, precarious balance between them as she grew and changed, evolving into a young woman. Still, he resisted her by sheer will when he was Above, and it was the most difficult thing to do. But the pain and raw agony as well as confusion and apprehension though had him answering the summons in Hoggle's place.</p><p>Hoggle had been banished from the castle by Jareth a long time ago when the dwarf decided to bring a horde of wizards to the Underground, fully believing the wizards' lies about wanting an alliance again.</p><p>Sarah had changed, it had been the first thing he noticed; yes in dreams he could see her, but it revealed how she saw herself, not how she was; she could be a dangerous, seductive, adversary, or a homely, denim wearing, bookworm; her perception of herself molded how he encountered her in her dreams.</p><p>Seeing her in the flesh he could see what she truly looked like, and she was stunning, she had long since lost the remaining baby fat she had retained as a teenager. Her features were elegant, soft, her nose still had that tilt and her lips still naturally pouty. But her green eyes, they were not cruel this night, red rimmed and puffy, there were tears clinging to them which had him immediately setting aside their games.</p><p>His adversary, his Lady, she was hurt, scared and would desire answers so he had resolved to be as honest as he could be without exposing himself to her. It would not do for her to understand the power she held over him, he feared her knowing she held such power to begin with when he had no hold over her.</p><p>It had been simple enough, at least until her last question, he wouldn't answer that one, he kept it hidden for a reason.</p><p>"Griphook!" he summoned.</p><p>The old goblin appeared before him. "My King," the goblin said with a low raggedy breath and a bow.</p><p>"The Campion of the Labyrinth will be going to Gringotts with those imbecile parasites who reside in my castle, when she should come you will give her access to my personal vault," he stated firmly.</p><p>"Of course, the Lady will receive our best," the goblin promised.</p><p>"As will her brother," Jareth stated firmly. Then he walked out of the throne room as he fingered a crystal. Something dark and ancient was brewing Above, he would have to consult the other monarchs of the Underground about it.</p><p>He took a steadying breath, there was a reason that his kind had faded into obscurity with humans, it was better to be myth and legend than deal with the power hunger of humans. But that might not be an option anymore.</p><p>Jareth doubted anyone outside of the Labyrinth knew who Sarah was exactly, so he did not think her the target of whatever had happened tonight. But still, someone had threatened his Champion, his Lady, remaining in obscurity might not be an option anymore. He summoned more goblin guards to protect Sarah.</p><hr/><p>Bill was awake to take his files to Gringotts and talk to Griphook about his transfer to the financial department. It was early in the morning, most of his family was still resting, and he had hopes of escaping to do his work before coming back to attend to his family. He would have to play peacekeeper as Charlie adamantly refused to have anything to do with Dumbledore but would join the Order only if he didn’t work with or take orders from Dumbledore and would not be returning home for the summer or until the war was more prominent or one of them got married. Bill didn’t know why Charlie disliked Dumbledore so fully, other than it probably had to do with the Cursed Vaults and what had happened to his first love. He didn’t know everything that had happened though because neither Tonks nor Charlie felt inclined to share it.</p><p>He nearly yelped when he almost crashed into the floo network as Dumbledore was exiting.</p><p>“Ah, Mister William, just the young man I was hoping to speak to,” he smiled.</p><p>“Morning Dumbledore, I’m on my way to Gringotts actually…” he started</p><p>“This will only take a moment,” Dumbledore informed him good naturedly.</p><p>Bill sighed but they sat down then as he waited.</p><p>“I received this the other day, as you were a Curse Breaker, I was wondering what you could tell me about it,” he said producing a piece of fine parchment. Bill accepted it as he looked it over carefully.</p><p>
  <em>‘To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, &amp; To Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘I, Master of the Castle and Grounds, have hired the Lady Sarah Jennifer Williams, as Keeper of my Library…’ </em>
</p><p>Bill read on, the letter clearly detailed wages, lodgings, rights, contractual obligations, health care, as well as hours and food. There was a great length of detail regarding the lodgings and rights this Lady Sarah Jennifer Williams would have.</p><p>The things that stuck out to Bill was that this didn’t mention Hogwarts, Hogsmeade or the Ministry, not even mentioning Gringotts. There was no mention of who was hiring her beyond the first line ‘I, Master of the Castle and Grounds’. The second was that this letter was elegantly written and so formal it was clearly an order and not a letter of recommendation. But the final thing which stood out was the magic which the parchment was steeped in.</p><p>“Who wrote this?” he asked feeling the magic pulsing in the paper. The point where it was formally signed was an official seal of some sort was where the most magical power seemed to be.</p><p>“I have no idea, but it is powerful, it has rearranged the wards at Hogwarts entirely out of my control to Miss Williams,” Dumbledore explained. “Do you recognize the seal?”</p><p>“No,” he admitted. “It looks familiar, but I don’t know why,” he muttered. He had seen something similar, the infinity sign, never beginning, never ending, infinite and nonexistent…</p><p>“I have the same impression myself,” Dumbledore said resignedly.</p><p>“Well, it’s an old symbol,” Bill said. “I mean, it’s as old, the Magic here is ancient, I don’t even recognize it,” he muttered.</p><p>“What can you tell me about it?” Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“Probably nothing you don’t already know,” he admitted. “It’s Celtic, but not… I don’t know, but I might have someone who would know.”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Well, there’s a couple of Egyptology Professors at a muggle university called Oxford, I’ve worked a lot with her and her husband when I was working as a Curse Breaker, for muggles they’re very steeped in symbology and art, and she is the most knowledgeable person I know with symbols. But as I said, I think this is Celtic, so I don’t know if she’d be as well versed in it,” he admitted. “Sir, if I may, who is Lady Sarah Jennifer Williams?” he asked.</p><p>“I haven’t the foggiest,” Dumbledore answered. “The night young Cedric Diggory was killed, and Voldemort returned, a muggle family was attacked, as best as I have figured out, the boy is named Tobias Williams, young Mister Williams apparated himself and his injured muggle sister, Miss Sarah Williams to the maze that very night from what we have ascertained. No one discovered them until the next day when the Ministry attempted to break the maze down for the Games had been decided and the maze had a will of its own. It took four professors to break the boy’s magical shield, he was sobbing over, Miss Williams and passed out when the shield broke. Naturally, we took them both to Hogwarts.</p><p>“Since then, strange happenings have begun to unfold around Mister Williams and his sister, for the sister is clearly the muggle, and yet, this letter was what she handed me earlier today. This letter has torn apart all the runes and wards at Hogwarts to be in her control,” he explained.</p><p>“I see,” he muttered looking at the letter.</p><p>“I cannot seem to right the wards and runes of the school now, beyond the ones I placed at the start of my tenure and even those…” he shook his head.</p><p>“I’ll take it to the Professor, but I honestly don’t know what she’ll know.”</p><p>“Thank you, Mister William,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>“No problem, I’ll reach out to the professor later today, but first, my real job,” he muttered as he got up, grabbing his coat, turning the letter over in his hands before he folded it and stuffed it in his pocket.</p><p>“Gringotts,” he called out as he grabbed a fist full of floo powder.</p><hr/><p>“And what exactly are you after, Miss Williams?” Professor Snape asked as she walked the path from the castle towards the village. Her goblin guards: whose names were Goob and Bugsy, bounced around her rather wildly with their spiked helmets and armor, she was so accustomed to goblins and their shenanigans around her that she had hardly noticed them. Also, they hadn’t held still long since their clumsy introductions this morning when she had woken up with Mopsy serving her breakfast to decipher which was Goob and which was Bugsy. Normally it would be Bam-Bam and Little Toby hanging about her during the day, or Bugaboo hanging on her shoulder and in her hair.</p><p>“I am going to find a telephone,” she answered as she ignored the throbbing of her knee as she walked. Christ her ribs were killing her, she wanted the phone though. Although, all her yellow bruising from the car accident was better than yesterday, healing faster. Her fat lip was gone, and her arm no longer felt like it was going to be tearing out of her shoulder any time soon. She had a feeling her knee and ribs would feel perfectly fine in a day or two.</p><p>Toby was only ahead a bit as they reached the small medieval looking village, Sarah saw the goblins pointing, and bouncing along through the village. Faeries flittered about, though it appeared no one else noticed them. One woman was swinging a broom around at some small blue things which the faeries were laughing at before one of the goblin guards snickered.</p><p>“This ways Lady!” one of them called.</p><p>“Toby,” she called out as she turned to walk through a small alley. Professor Snape seemed startled at her turn; Toby raced after her. Sarah could feel the walls and ground vibrating like it was the Labyrinth all over again.</p><p>“Teliphone this way!” the other goblin guard informed her tripping the professor behind her. She didn’t acknowledge them in company, because as she had learnt a week after the Labyrinth, no one else could see them and she looked rather mad talking to air. Though a few of her classmates would flinch when her goblins were around, like they were seeing something they didn’t want to see.</p><p>“Here Lady!” the first goblin snickered as he swung on a neglected sign with a hog’s head on it.</p><p>“Hog’s Head Inn?” Toby asked, hugging her waist carefully.</p><p>“Why not? It’s an inn, it should have a telephone, we’ll call Grandma Evy and she’ll help us get this all sorted, probably meet us in Inverness herself,” Sarah said as she rubbed his shoulder before walking forward.  Opening the door, she looked around the dingy little inn, the pub was obviously the first floor, it was rather like walking into something she’d expect in a period film.</p><p>It was dark, dank, low ceiling with heavy wooden beams that were as massive as any man. The furniture was old, mismatched, the floor uneven and a bit broken in areas, there was stray strands of hay scattered about, and massive kegs behind the bar. An old man wearing a kilt, polishing a glass glanced at her with sharp blue eyes, which assessed her.</p><p>“Hello,” she smiled kindly as she walked towards the bar, her goblin escort bounced around assessing the place. “I was wondering if I might use your telephone,” she said.</p><p>“Don’t have one,” he gruffly answered slamming down the glass. Toby flinched, and she only tilted her head as the goblins came running out with the telephone.</p><p>“I’m sorry, but may I please borrow your telephone, I do need to make a call,” she said. “To my great grandparents, my brother and I just lost our parents and he’s just found out he’s a wizard, and I’m certain you don’t want our boring life story details, but this is important,” she implored him. “I’m Sarah Williams,” she offered. “New Keeper of the Library at the Castle.”</p><p>“I especially don’t have a telephone for staff of that school!” the old man hissed as the goblins bounce behind him cackling madly as they held up the receiver.</p><p>“Well then you’ll be delighted to know I don’t work for the school, merely the Castle, I was hired by the Master of the Castle,” she explained.</p><p>“Sarah?” Toby whined behind her as he came up to hug her waist.</p><p>Now she had the man’s attention. “Master of the Castle? You mean Albus Dumbledore?”</p><p>“I do not mean that man,” she sniffed in disdain.</p><p>The man’s blue eyes raked over her, taking in her bruises and injuries no doubt. “You’re a muggle.”</p><p>“I suppose,” she shrugged.</p><p>“You weren’t hired by Albus then,” he snorted as he picked up a new glass.</p><p>“Most assuredly not,” she replied blandly.</p><p>“Aberforth,” he offered. “And yes, I have a telephone, but you can use it for a price,” he warned.</p><p>“And what’s the price?” she asked.</p><p>“I’ll think of something, in time,” he assured her.</p><p>“Very well, but I will not be doing anything scandalous,” she warned.</p><p>He grunted and pulled a stick, wand, from somewhere on his person, summoning her goblins and the phone. Goob and Bugsy shrieked as they went crashing by her feet.</p><p>“Thank you,” she said as she picked it up and started the roll dial of the O’Connell Manor.</p><p>It rang twice before there was an answer.</p><p>“’Ello!” boomed her great-grandfather in her ear so she held it from her head. “O’Connell Manor!”</p><p>“Hello gramps,” she sighed as she brought the phone to her ear.</p><p>“SARAH! How’s Inverness!?” he demanded.</p><p>“Toby and I have run into some trouble,” she sighed as she started. Sitting down her brother clambered into the chair beside her as he pressed his ear to the receiver as she talked.</p><hr/><p>Evelyn smiled as she opened the massive door to the young scholar who had graced her presence over the last few years, Mister William Prewett.</p><p>“Oh, Mister Prewett!” she smilled.</p><p>“Please, call me Bill,” he pleaded again. She chuckled as she ushered him into the house. Rick was probably napping in the library, or in his study, but she didn’t know as she walked with the strapping, young man towards her personal study. Evy was rather fond of young William Prewett, he reminded her a bit of Rick when he was younger, rugged good looks, a penchant for trouble, and laughing, bright blue eyes. William was also a rather attractive man, tall, athletic, copper colored hair, and an easy smile. Minus the strange fang earring and ponytail he wore, she’d have thought him a proper gentleman.</p><p>“Very well, Bill, how are you?” she asked as they walked.</p><p>“Very well, how about yourself?”</p><p>“I cannot complain, old age, and stiffness happening, old aches and pains of old adventures reminding me they happened, but I cannot complain. My great-granddaughter has gotten me and Rick into Tai Chi of all things,” she chuckled. “You and she are about the same age,” she observed suddenly.</p><p>“Really?” the young man seemed a bit amused at this.</p><p>“Yes, of course being the intelligent lass, she is she attended Oxford,” Evy smiled with pride. She was immensely proud of her great-granddaughter and great-grandson, Sarah and Toby were a breath of fresh air after so many years of a stagnant relationship with her granddaughter, Linda Williams.</p><p>Evy would admit she had never approved of her son’s wife, that abhorrent woman was merely a gold digger, not that Alex saw it. After Lin had left him, Alex had gone the American film route, Evy had been enormously proud, she had all her son’s films, but then Alex had met that woman, Ava Wood, the lead actress in one of his films. Dreadful swot, Evy hated her, Alex had married her, of course this had lead to that horrid disagreement between herself, Alex, and Rick; she and Rick refusing to support him so long as that woman was attached to his arm. Alex had then declared himself cut off, and they were no longer a family, he took his young bride to the States.  Of course, they had a daughter less than a year later in 1950, Linda, Alex had gone off to fight in Korea and was KIA’d. The only time Evy had met her granddaughter was at the funeral when Ava was acting with her hysterics in plain sight for all the media to see. Evy and Rick had sued for custody, not that they had won.</p><p>The next time they were contacted by Ava and her daughter was in 1969, Linda was marrying a young New York businessman who wanted the ‘whole’ family there. Evy and Rick had come for the wedding, only for Ava to attempt to finagle money out of them Evy had been livid. Linda was just like her mother too, Evy could see it, those black locks, and green eyes; Evy’s own green eyes, staring at her like she was a bank account rather than Linda’s grandmother.</p><p>The only saving grace was Robert Williams, who had smoothed the whole wedding over, he was a lovely man who both she and her husband like. He seemed wary about marrying Linda, who was not only nineteen but ambitious, he was about twenty-five, a reasonable age for their union. Evy didn’t judge, for in her time, she had been a bit of an ‘old maid’ by the time she and Rick had married.</p><p>Sarah was the only good thing to come of that union, or so Evy had figured. Robert though was a delightful son, a rather trying father, and Sarah a charming young lady. Sarah had inherited her mother’s ebony locks, but to Evy’s surprise, Sarah had her green eyes. Irene, Robert’s second wife, was a wonderful, intelligent woman who had mothered young Tobias; Evy saw a lot of Alex in young Tobias even though there was no blood relation.</p><p>“But I do not think a young Cambridge scholar came to hear the Oxford Professor’s woes,” she mused.</p><p>“Um… no,” he admitted.</p><p>“Pity,” she chuckled. “Andrews, might we have a spot of tea,” she asked as the butler appeared in her study.</p><p>“Of course,” he nodded with a low bow. “And I should tell you your husband is on the telephone with Miss Sarah at this moment in his study.”</p><p>“Oh, that’s wonderful, I hope she and Toby are having a marvelous time in Inverness,” she smiled. “I’ll call them at the inn later,” she assured. “I was getting a touch worried they hadn’t called in so long,” Evy informed the young man with her.</p><p>“My mum gets the same way, though there’s about ten of us she fusses over so she’s busy,” he winked.</p><p>“Mother’s never stop worrying about their broods,” she chuckled. “Lord knows I never stopped worrying about Alex,” she reminisced a little with sorrow. “Though, Rick and I didn’t have a whole brood, just the one boy,” she explained.</p><p>“I see,” he nodded.</p><p>“Of course you don’t, but you will understand in time,” she assured him. “So, what is it that brings you here, those Tabs not teaching you the proper theology, religion and philosophy?”</p><p>“Well, I’m actually here because I’ve come across something that none of my professors or colleagues recognize,” he admitted as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bit of parchment.</p><p>Evy pulled on her glasses and looked pointedly down her nose as she found the right distance to read it.</p><p>“This must be… very old,” she whispered lifting up the parchment. It delicate, carefully made. “Is this deer or another animal?” she asked.</p><p>“Oh… uh…sheep, I believe,” he answered.</p><p>She looked over at the young man then back at the parchment. “And you shoved it in your pocket?”</p><p>“It’s not old parchment, I copied the symbol,” he defended.</p><p>“I see,” she replied dryly. “I’ve seen a few things similar to this, but nothing I know of immediately springs to mind. Perhaps if I were to see the original…”</p><p>“I…”</p><p>“Oh, come now, Bill, this is the most excitement I’ve had in decades,” she giggled. “It’s not like it’ll bring a mummy to life or have an army of Anubis springing up,” she dismissed.</p><p>Bill bit his lip before he produced the parchment from his briefcase.</p><p>She pulled on the cloth gloves as she got up, an old stab wound acted up on her side which had her hissing as she gripped her desk tightly before accepting his parchment.</p><p>
  <em>‘To Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, &amp; To Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Minister of Magic,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>‘I, Master of the Castle and Grounds, have hired the Lady Sarah Jennifer Williams, as Keeper of my Library….’</em>
</p><p>She dropped the parchment as her head came up to glare at the young man who was nervously looking at her. “Is this an attempt at an ill-conceived, manner of a joke, Mister Prewett?” she demanded sharply.</p><p>“No,” he shook his head looking concerned.</p><p>“Then why is my great-granddaughter’s name in this letter?” she demanded.</p><p>The young man’s eyes widened. “You tell me right now or I will shoot you!” she hissed venomously as grabbed up the old .22 revolver she had hidden in her drawer.</p><p>“Obliviate!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah was surprised when the next day when she woke to a massive ruckus booming through the other side of the solar door, which was when she noticed she had fallen asleep on the windowsill. Hurrying to detangle herself from the blanket she noticed that she was completely healed but didn’t dwell on it as she ran for the door.</p><p>“Sarah?” Toby’s head poked out of his room; his darkening blond hair stuck out in odd directions.</p><p>“Stay there,” she ordered softly before she opened the door.</p><p>“And I am telling you that you are not…!” Dumbledore’s archaic voice started.</p><p>“And I am here as per instructions of Lady Williams’ employer, I am here to take her to Inverness with her brother to arrange reclaiming the bodies of her brother’s and hers’ parents, and funeral matters, as well as legal proceedings that will accompany that. If you should find problems with that, discuss it with Griphook of Gringotts,” came Jareth’s voice which had her smiling a little.</p><p>“It’s alright Toby,” she assured her shy brother as she opened her door more and stepped out to look at Jareth. He was surprisingly human like in appearance short, ruffled, feathery hair still streaked with odd colors, his eyes were mismatched for this ruse with the left being brown and the right being brilliant blue.</p><p>“Speak of the devil,” he smiled as he came sweeping into her room then.</p><p>“I didn’t invite you in!” she called after him.</p><p>“Really, Sarah, such formalities between us are pointless, as I was telling the Headmaster I am here from Gringotts to take you and your brother to Inverness,” he stated glaring over his shoulder at Dumbledore.</p><p>“Who are you?” Toby asked appearing in the room, his eyes were bright with curiosity.</p><p>“I am Jared King,” he said with a sweeping bow for Toby’s amusement. “And you must be young Master Tobias,” he mused idly.</p><p>“Just Toby,” the boy giggled for the first time since she had woken up after the accident. “How do you know my sister?” he asked.</p><p>“One could say I’ve known her all her life,” he replied which had her lightly whacking his shoulder.</p><p>“Jare<strong><em>d </em></strong>is an old friend,” she answered for him as she glared at him. “I didn’t know you were in the Wizarding World though, aren’t we fully of surprises?” she drawled.</p><p>“You know me so well,” he purred. “Get your things, I’m taking you to Inverness,” he ordered.</p><p>“We don’t have things,” she said when Toby ran into his room to get dressed. “The car was incinerated,” she murmured. Keeping her voice low she hoped to keep the conversation private and away from Dumbledore who still stood in the door, Jareth’s back was to the older man, but he seemed not to care. Probably because he was a King and never left alone.</p><p>“That’s horrid,” he muttered.</p><p>“I spoke to my grandpa yesterday,” she said softly as she picked up her shoes and pulled them on.</p><p>“You have a grandfather?” he seemed baffled at this news which had her chuckling a little.</p><p>“Well, great-grandfather,” she clarified. “On my mother’s side, Linda’s father’s parents, they’re both alive and well still.” She explained as she picked up the fallen blanket and started folding it.</p><p>“I see,” he nodded.</p><p>“They’ll meet up in Inverness, and help… you know, to help with the funeral and legal matters,” she sighed as she dropped the blanket on the chair. “They were leaving for Glasgow after I hung up, if I’m right they’ll be in Inverness before we are,” she admitted with a yawn.</p><p>“That is good,” he admitted. “Mopsy, some coffee for the Lady if you would,” he asked the room.</p><p>“Yes,” came the response, Sarah jolted a bit when the house elf appeared smiling with her coffee.</p><p>“Thank you Mopsy,” she smiled as she accepted it.</p><p>“You are most welcome, Lady,” the elf beamed before disappearing.</p><p>“I will get you to Inverness, but it will be some time before I can return,” he murmured softly as he came to stand close to her. There was a time when his size had intimidated her, but with him looming over her she felt perfectly safe at this moment. “The parasites are watching us,” he said softly.</p><p>She glanced over at the open door where Dumbledore stood, joined by a new professor.</p><p>“I must insist that Miss Williams and Mister Williams remain here,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>“And I must insist they not,” Jareth turned around then as he pulled his attention from her to give it to Dumbledore.</p><p>“It is not safe for them, as you know there are dark forces at play in our world,” he started.</p><p>“Even so, there are always dark forces and life carries on, Lady Williams and her brother will be going with me,” he stated firmly.</p><p>“I’m ready to go!” Toby appeared then, wearing his singed hoodie and converse sneakers.</p><p>“Excellent!” Jareth smiled and offered her his elbow. Sarah accepted it as she walked with him, sipping her coffee. “When we are past the anti-apparition wards, we will apparate to Dufftown, and from there we will take a portkey to Inverness,” he explained.</p><p>Sarah nodded. She was only a handful of inches shorter than Jareth, but she was startled when he leaned over her ear. “Do not reveal anything I will explain it to you tonight,” he murmured.</p><p>She inclined her head in acknowledgement as they walked.</p><p>“Ah, leave that love, it’ll just burn you if we take it, I will get you another when we are in Inverness,” he said.</p><p>Sighing she set the mug of coffee down on the wall, feeling the teachers behind her, watching, as they walked down the hill.</p><p>“Thank you, Jared,” she murmured.</p><p>“Hold on,” he ordered grabbing Toby’s hand before she could. She yelped as it felt like she was being inverted, twisted, and dragged by a train, all through the center of her bellybutton before landing somewhere else, completely dizzy; it was worse than the Disneyland Teacups ride.</p><p>“I’m going to be sick,” she gasped.</p><p>“That was fun! Lets do it again!” Toby declared gleefully. Jareth managed to catch her hair as she doubled over gagging on what little coffee was in her stomach.</p><hr/><p>Rick O’Connell walked towards the morgue where he was going to meet up with his great-granddaughter and great-grandson, Evy was hanging on his arm. All of his old aches and pains in this much cooler area were making themselves known as he moved slow and stiff, aware of every wound he had suffered in his youth. Part of him cursed his recklessness, and another part of him was still confused as to how he had lived this long.</p><p>Evy bustled along beside him, her aches and pains had them moving at the same speed.</p><p>Jonathan would’ve had a laugh about being this old, and probably attempted to become some poor woman’s sugar daddy. Yes, Jonathan had never really grown up, but that was to be expected of Jonathan. Rick was still baffled when he turned to tell Jonathan something and his brother-in-law wasn’t there, no missives, or wayward adventures from Jonathan, no anything anymore. And same for his son Alex, it broke his old heart at times.</p><p>He and Evy walked into the morgue to see Sarah calmly talking with the doctors here, and Toby sitting in a waiting chair. There was a tall blond, older looking man beside Sarah. His great-granddaughter reminded him a lot of his wife in appearance when Evy was younger, long, thick dark hair, green eyes, crème complexions, but there was something different about Sarah that he could never place, something more, like she walked between reality and myth; she reminded him of the mystical artifacts he and Evy used to hunt.</p><p>“Oh darlings,” Evy pulled from him as she hurried to Sarah and Toby. He limped along and collapsed to sit beside Toby. Toby reminded him a lot of his son, blond hair, blue eyes, a rather impish nature surrounding them.</p><p>“Heyya kid,” he greeted his grandson as he ran a hand through the boy’s ruffled blond hair. Toby looked up with red rimmed eyes.</p><p>“They said they were burn beyond recognition, I can’t see them, Sarah won’t let me,” he whimpered.</p><p>“Oh kid, you don’t want to see that,” he promised as he pulled the small boy into his side.</p><p>“It’s my fault,” he whimpered. “It’s causes I’m a wizard, I have Magic…” he muttered.</p><p>“Oh this is not your fault,” he promised. “Bad things happen, it isn’t always fair, but it happens,” he murmured.</p><p>“It’s not fair,” Toby stated as he buried his face into Rick’s side.</p><p>“I know,” he assured the kid as he kept running his fingers through her hair.</p><p>“Thank you,” Sarah appeared walking up to him. “Thank you for coming,” she said sitting down beside him.</p><p>“Of course, sweetie,” he said as he lifted his arm to wrap around her shoulders. Sarah so small right now.</p><p>“Do you know if they wanted to be cremated or buried?” Evy asked coming over.</p><p>“Cremated, and scattered in New York,” Sarah answered.</p><p>“It will be arranged, I’ll get in contact with our solicitor and we will have it all arranged,” Evy said. “For now, let us go to a hotel.”</p><p>“I’ve already made accommodations,” the blond spoke in a calm tone which had Rick actually looking at the man. “Sarah and her family will be staying at this hotel, it is all arranged, and if there is further accommodations needed they will be arranged,” the man said.</p><p>“Who in the seven hells are you?” Rick demanded.</p><p>“This is Jared King, a friend,” Sarah answered as she accepted the card he held out for her.</p><p>“I will be in touch, precious,” he said and walked out.</p><p>“He was strange,” Rick muttered.</p><p>“You have no idea,” she sighed.</p><p>“Well, we should go to the hotel, and we will work things out, the police said it was an accident, they are pleased you and Toby were found and given medical treatment,” Evy said. “We will get the bodies arranged and released, and the wills settled, as well as the estates, of course you and Toby are welcomed to stay with us in Oxforshire, and we’ll get this sorted out.”</p><p>“Toby and I will need to go to New York,” Sarah sighed. “Irene and Dad would want to be there, and there’s the matter of the house to settle, also Dad’s accounts and business.”</p><p>“For now, hotel, food, rest,” Rick ordered. “And maybe a movie with some junk food for Toby and I,” he declared.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, and we’ll talk about everything back home, not before,” he declared.</p><p>“Thank you, Grandpa,” Toby smiled.</p><p>“Of course, kiddo,” he chuckled. “Come on Evy,” he said.</p><p>“Would you like to hear about the time your grandfather and I slayed a mummy?” she asked Toby as she took his arm. “Of course, this was long before your time…” she started.</p><p>“Come on, gramps,” Sarah sighed getting up to help him up.</p><p>“Thank you, sweetie,” he grunted as she helped get him up right. “How are you holding up?”</p><p>“I’m tired,” she admitted. “But I’ll be alright, I just… I have to focus on Toby,” she said.</p><p>“Don’t forget yourself in that quest, love,” he murmured as they walked.</p><p>“I’ll try not to,” she decided cautiously.</p><p>“That’s all I ask,” he promised. “That and a bit of information, like how you know that fellow that was escorting you here, and what is this about Toby being a wizard, that can’t be right, and please tell me you are not magically involved with some sort of mummy nonsense!” he pleaded.</p><p>“Gramps,” she sighed. “I’ve known Jared for a long time, he’s an old friend. Toby is a wizard, according to a wizard and Jared, that’s not bad though, he has Magic, and there’s a lot I don’t know, but there’s a school for wizards he can go to, to learn, which was where we were. And none of anything in my life has to do with mummies, so why that’s on your list of worries I don’t know. But there’s a lot to be discussed later.”</p><p>“You’d be surprised at how spry a mummy could be for a dead troublemaker,” he replied in good humor.</p><p>“I’ll just take your word for it,” she promised with a hint of humor despite the wobble in her voice.</p><hr/><p> Hermione looked up when Dumbledore entered the Grimmauld Place as she sat trying to write a letter for Harry. Ron was arguing with Ginny about what was going on with the Order of the Phoenix actions, their parents were so busy, Bill’s return and all the people in and out for the Order. Ron and Ginny were arguing with each other about joining the Order or not, but Hermione just wanted to beat her head against the desk, she knew that they would, just not now, and Harry needed them.</p><p>“Ah, Miss Granger, Mister Ronald, Miss Weasley,” he greeted as he walked in. “Just the ones I wanted to speak to!”</p><p>“Professor!”</p><p>“About your summer,” he said sitting down. “I would advise against writing Mister Potter,” he sighed. “The Ministry will be keeping tabs on Mister Potter and with the involvement of the Weasley family in our Order I must insist and advised against you writing Mister Potter.”</p><p>“But…” she started.</p><p>“If they learn anything about our activities it will only serve to endanger Mister Potter and our efforts against Voldemort and the Death Eaters,” he explained.</p><p>“And if we leave out Order business?” Ginny asked.</p><p>“I must insist, for the safety of everyone, especially Mister Potter’s,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>“But…” Ron started.</p><p>“We must weigh the needs of the many against the few, Mister Ronald, it is important that the Order is safe than a communication between young friends,” Dumbledore stated firmly. “Understand, this is vital,” he warned as he got up. “It is for the greater good.”</p><p>“After Cedric and then Voldemort, this will not be…” Ginny dragged a hand through her hair as she sat.</p><p>“But he’s not wrong,” Hermione finally admitted sadly.</p><p>“Blimmey ‘Mione,” Ron grumbled as he sat down with her.</p><p>“Well think about, Ron! All of your family is in the Order! And we don’t know what the Ministry is looking for or how far they will invade Harry’s privacy, they might just keep every letter we send him, and then we could accidentally write something that makes your family a target or worse, imprisoned,” she hissed. “This is for the greater good,” she sighed miserably.</p><p>“But… Harry shouldn’t feel alone right now,” Ginny defended. “It’s only going to make him feel worse,” she defended.</p><p>“Yes, but he’ll…” she sighed. “He’ll be in more danger if he knows what we’re doing. The Ministry is going to silence him, but they’re going to keep close tabs on him, and Dumbledore, and it’s important that we are careful,” she explained.</p><hr/><p>Their time in Oxfordshire was brief. It didn’t take long for the O’Connells to get her parents’ bodies back; the urns were rather simple and lovely. Toby and she sat down to talk about what they would do, which lead to her Evy and Rick getting a charter plane to New York for her all them. Evy and Rick were wonderful about the entire trip, they spun it as an adventure since neither of them had been in America since her mother’s wedding. Sarah was very relieved to have them here. Except the drive to the old Victorian house they owned in Saugerties, everything went smoothly, which was saying something.</p><p>“This is… rather charming,” Evy said as she clambered out of the car. “And your father…” she started.</p><p>“It has been his family for a few generations, since they settled in Saugerties,” she admitted.</p><p>“Come on, Toby we’ll explore a bit,” Rick huffed as he limped up the front steps of the old house. Sarah closed her eyes as she took a deep breath before walking after them. She hadn’t been home since she was eighteen, she hadn’t noticed how much she missed it until now. Setting her jaw, she jogged up the steps after Toby, her grandparents and into the old house.</p><p>“Oh, you’re back!” a new voice said which had her turning to look at their neighbors. Sarah wracked her brains for the name.</p><p>“Um… yes, just came in today,” Sarah answered.</p><p>“Oh, haven’t seen you for a few years,” she commented.</p><p>“Went to school in England,” she admitted as she leaned on the front porch post as she folded her arms. “Have a job there too,” she admitted.</p><p>“Lydia is home from her senior year, maybe you two would like to meet up,” she offered.</p><p>“I’m sorry, but I’ll be terribly busy, it’s not a trip for fun. We’ll be going back to England for the time being,” she explained tiredly.</p><p>“Will you need a babysitter? I saw young Toby is back,” she commented.</p><p>“We’re playing it by ear,” Sarah admitted.</p><p>“Of course, well if you need help you can call us, Lydia will be more than happy to help out!” she volunteered.</p><p>“Noted, thank you,” she smiled as she waved her off before walking into the house. Old paints still hung on the walls, the lights had a warm yellow tint, the furniture clothes were still draped over the furniture. The place was a little musty and unused, but then her parents had taken to travelling around for her father’s work, they had probably been here at Christmas with Toby but she hadn’t been here because she had been working out her publishing contract with David Jones as her agent.</p><p>“Toby showed us to the guest room, we know to be careful with the plumbing,” Rick said as he pulled off a cover clothe in the living room.</p><p>“I don’t think we’ll be here long,” she admitted. “I’ll put the place up for rent when things are sorted out and finished,” she sighed. “Should be a way to keep the plumbing good.”</p><p>“Fair enough.”</p><p>“I need to call the lawyers, and dad’s partners,” she said as she walked into the kitchen. “Electricity still works, fridge is empty, I’ll go get us some dinner and groceries.”</p><p>“You shouldn’t go…” Evy started.</p><p>“I just need a breather, a minute, you know, to catch my breath,” Sarah said as she walked out to car to finish unloading the bags. Once that was done she went back to the car. “I’ll be back in thirty,” she called as she left.</p><p>This was going to be a long summer.</p><p>As it turned out, sorting out her father’s business, both in England and Stateside was a ginormous headache; and it was even simple to go through the papers. Evelyn and Rick were wonderful, but her father’s partners didn’t want them poking in on the business or contracts because they weren’t related to Robert.</p><p>That statement had admittedly gotten her screaming in frustration after a week and demanded Jareth to show up; she was a bloody writer, not a businesswoman or lawyer!</p><p>Surprisingly, Jareth had shown up in her bedroom with his strongest bottle of wine in hand, she had been dumbfounded as she had been in her childhood room surrounded by the mess of papers. Elven wine was apparently very potent and while she was sleeping off the worst hang over in her life Jareth had sorted that out. After he had kindly drawn a mustache on her face; jerk. He was surprisingly useful though sorting out business stuff; ‘contracts are contracts, Sarah’ or ‘money is money’ was what he had dismissed his help as whenever she asked him how he made heads or tails of those papers. She hadn’t summoned Hoggle, Ludo or Sir Didymus because she knew there wasn’t anything, they could do to help her in this situation at present, also she didn’t want Grandma Evy or Grandpa Rick aware of the Underground.</p><p>Toby had been slow to recover from what had happened and dealing with his magic. He fretted endlessly that he was going to get her killed; Sarah felt that she was more likely to die from managing Linda and Jeremy than Toby.</p><p>Linda had made a show of playing distraught divorcee in the media, trying to capitalize off of it, which had Grandma Evy slamming the door shut fully on Linda and Jeremy. Sarah was actually impressed with her grandmother’s methods of handling Linda, Jeremy, and the media because Sarah was all for throwing water balloons at them for standing on her lawn.</p><p>And if it wasn’t Linda creating troubles for er, it was her neighbors the Deetz because they wanted to ‘help’ Sarah find renters for the house when she returned to England for the commission fee of course. Mr. Deetz had been telling her about how he was a broker in New York City, which was rather maddening. Lydia Deetz was rather tolerable, though her parents were unhelpful, Lydia was rather helpful. Jareth didn’t like her, calling her the ghost’s bride, and generally tended to remain far away when Lydia was near.</p><p>But everything had taken a month to sort out, Evy and Rick chartered a jet back to Oxfordshire about four days ago. Sarah and Toby had remained behind to scatter their parents’ ashes; something she and Toby wanted to do in private. Their grandparents had left them in peace but left them with a charter jet.</p><p>Which brought her to tonight, as she sat at her kitchen table with a hot mug of cocoa; one of the few pieces of furniture she had left in her childhood home; waiting for him to come. Toby had long since passed out on his bed, a hard day of playing with his old friends, and learning to find his balance again.</p><p>“Jareth,” she called out softly to the empty house.</p><p>“Hello Precious,” a voice drawled out behind her.</p><p>“Cocoa?” she cut him off as she got up and started pouring him a mug.</p><p>“Sarah?” he questioned as she shook up the whip cream canister before she started spraying it around the top.</p><p>“Jareth, sit down, drink the cocoa, I’m not in the mood for games, or witty banter, or elven wine,” she sighed as she placed the mug before him as she sat down with her own mug. Jareth eyed her warily, but he did sit, his outfit was still outlandish as ever, but rather tame for him she supposed as he wasn’t wearing the cape or holding the riding crop. “Do you think Hogwarts is the best thing for Toby?” she asked as she rubbed her temple and looked him over.</p><p>Jareth was curious sniffing the hot cocoa before taking a tentative sip of it. Now his eyes were massive as he stared at it with undisguised wonder. “My Castle will be one of the safer places for you and Toby.”</p><p>“That wasn’t what I asked,” she clarified.</p><p>“No, it wasn’t,” he sighed. “There are many magic schools, but that one is one of the safer ones, as well as more knowledgeable of about Toby’s kind of magic,” he answered. “What is in this?”</p><p>“Milk and chocolate heated up with some whip cream,” she answered. “So, there’s other schools for wizards?”</p><p>“Many, Ilvermony School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, it is close to your Salem I believe,” he said uncertainly.</p><p>“You don’t know?”</p><p>“As it was founded by one of my nephew’s descendants, I connected it to the Underground and it moves with the Labyrinth from time to time, but stays in the same general area,” he explained.</p><p>“You seem to like tying these places to the Labyrinth,” she commented dryly.</p><p>Jareth snorted. “Hardly, I would just… I was particularly fond of my brother’s son,” he explained carefully. “My brother and I were the only Fae like… this, and as a result I was fond of my nephew and his descendants,” he explained. “One particular line actually, not the other, the other was… peculiar.”</p><p>“Why shouldn’t I send Toby to this livermoney school?” she asked.</p><p>“Ilvermony,” he countered. “And you could, easily, I would be happy to secure your employment and residence there as needed.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“Hogwarts is the better school for teaching, they are over a thousand years and produced some of the finest parasites who practice Above Magic. Ilvermony, while good and a safe fit for your brother, it will be more difficult for you. The Americans practice extreme isolationism within their magical communities for which I commend given the vastness of their nation, but you, my dear, would be harmed immediately for them to keep their secrets. In the United Kingdom, I can control your safety much better, as well as retaining a firmer hold over their government through the banks and Labyrinth which will also ensure your safety.”</p><p>“But you don’t have the same control here?”</p><p>“No,” he shook his head. “I am Fae.” He stated that like it was explanation enough, but she wasn’t going to question this because she just needed to do what was best for Toby. “To have you in what is my ancestral home will make it easier to keep you and Toby safe, it’s where my magic is strongest Above.”</p><p>“So Above you’re not as strong?” she asked.</p><p>“With certain alignments of fae lines and everything, it’s all very complicated and dull, and not worth explaining since it doesn’t affect you,” he explained nudging his mug to her. She was shocked it was empty but got up and poured him another cup as she dropped in a few marshmallows.</p><p>“Do you think Hogwarts will be the better fit?”</p><p>“I do,” he admitted as he accepted the mug from her and she settled again, drawing her legs up as she assessed him. “You have set up your life in England, so it would make sense for you to remain where you work, living in Hogwarts is safer than wandering around attracting unnecessary attention, as well as a stable environment you can raise hell in against that pompous, self-righteous parasite of a headmaster.”</p><p>“You don’t like Dumbledore?” she chuckled.</p><p>“I think he has a rather simplistic view on Magic and shoves it down children’s throats while smearing my nephew’s name.”</p><p>“Who was your nephew?” she asked as leaned back. Jareth picked out a marshmallow and held it up inquisitively. “It’s a marshmallow, pure sugar, won’t kill you,” she promised. He seemed to assess it before popping it in his mouth and staring in delight at the mug as he chewed it.</p><p>“My nephew was called Salazar Slytherin,” he answered. “His mother was an Unseelie Fae, and my brother was his father, obviously. He fell in love with a mortal and came to the Above with intents on wooing said mortal, she convinced him to stay. She was what the parasites here dare to call muggle,” he sneered. “The mortal held more magical ability in her little finger than the pompous halfling or that witty Changeling that soon joined my nephew.”</p><p>“What happened to your nephew?”</p><p>“When a fae loses their mates, it is not a pretty picture; my kind will go mad with grief, quite literally. Fae of a Seelie nature become akin to Fisher Kings which is a horrid fate for a creature steeped in light, but as horrid as it is, it is nothing to the fate of fae with an Unseelie nature...</p><p>“His mate was murdered with their third child still in her belly and their children stolen, he had come to the Underground for a meeting with my father, his grandfather, in hopes of brokering a treaty. His children stolen, and his mate dead, he reacted as any Unseelie fae would and he razed the earth where he stood. He destroyed everyone and everything within his reach, leading the worlds into a great war; many realms were affected dangerously, the Underground, the Above, the Netherworld, the Between, the Beside. It tore apart the foundation of Hogwarts and Above Magic practices and Magic as a whole; given his duel nature it was draining on all realms. Eventually, the halfling and Changeling partners he had come to call friends were forced to kill him to save their Above Magical society and the other realms. They did what I was unwilling to do,” he answered softly. “I never had the heart to demand the castle back, not that they were aware of what the castle actually was; Slytherin had never told them, and it was a way I could seek out his children.”</p><p>“That’s horrible,” she whispered with wide eyes.</p><p>“It is, but not as horrible as what happened to his children,” Jareth admitted softly. “Fae prize children above all, it is why we accept the wished away and forgotten, it is why we are known as child thieves. For us to bear a child, to have that succession is everything; it is exceedingly difficult for my kind to conceive, <strong><em>exceedingly</em></strong> <strong><em>difficult</em></strong>, which is why ungrateful mortals wishing their children gone is what we react to frequently. My nephew had not one, but two children classified as ‘halflings’, half fae, half mortal. It took a hundred years but finally one of his descendants attended Hogwarts again, it’s a blood reaction, I could then trace the child’s family line back and found it to be my grandnephew’s line, they were more inclined for Unseelie magic, and steeped in darkness. I still tracked the line, kept tabs on the child and their children. Then there was another line, weaker in magic for the most part, but more like the Seelie, they turned up in Hogwarts about four hundred years after my grandniece had disappeared. Eventually my grandniece’s descendants were down to one, who fled persecution to America, her Seelie magic flourished, and she founded Ilvermony.</p><p>“I met her, lovely lady,” he said with a soft smile that wasn’t all teeth. “She permitted the connection between the Labyrinth and Underground, and though I am closer to the family in America, I am more powerful in my Above homelands so I would prefer you to be there.”</p><p>“You’ve mentioned Seelie and Unseelie, and I understand the basics of that from Scottish lore, but what are you Jareth? You’re a fae, but which court do you serve?”</p><p>“I serve my own court which is comprised of beings of both courts,” he stated. “I am a King and High Prince to both courts, I’m sure you’ve read over those ridiculous titles, but I was never the heir apparent to my father or mother,” he dismissed with a wave of his hand. At the same wave of his hand cookies appeared and he started dunking them in the hot chocolate.</p><p>“So, you think Hogwarts will be better for Toby?” she sighed.</p><p>“Undoubtedly, despite Dumbledore,” he answered.</p><p>“You really don’t like him,” she chuckled.</p><p>“You, my precious, are a worthy adversary, he is a bumbling fool.”</p><p>“While we’re on the topic of adversaries, why are you being… helpful,” she gestured dramatically at everything around her and him. Sarah would admit she had been confounded since waking in Hogwarts and found herself relying heavily on the fae without stressing the repercussions of such a relationship. It was unnerving, especially now as he gave her a smile that was all sharp teeth and devious intent.</p><p>“Oh, my precious, eager to play our games, settle scores?” he taunted.</p><p>“No, I’m just tired of waiting for the other shoe to drop! And I keep asking and you keep dodging it, so answer or I will withhold the cocoa,” she snapped as she got up to make them both more hot cocoa.</p><p>“You’re being cruel! Don’t bring the cocoa into our discussion!”</p><p>“I don’t want to keep waiting for the other shoe!” she snapped holding the mug out of his reach.</p><p>“It will come, just not yet; I much prefer you actually intent on the game rather than moodily moping about,” he dismissed.</p><p>“Hey!” She protested as she handed him the cocoa. </p><p>“Losing family is no small tragedy Sarah,” he cut her off. “I would wish that upon no one, it is lonely, and when there is no aid or support it is like you are drowning. I merely accepted that this might be the one time I could truly be here without our games,” he stated as he accepted the mug.</p><p>“We haven’t played games since I was fifteen!” she snapped.</p><p>“It’ll be interesting to see how they go now that you are not a child and in sole control of the dreams!” he replied with a wolfish smile which had her glaring at him before she took a sip of the hot chocolate.</p><p>“What’s in it for me if I win?” she asked. Sarah wasn’t fool enough to think she would be escaping his escapades for these games. True when they just met in her dreams she didn’t have to worry about the games, but rather the dreamscape they would be entangled in. Now though, he was here in the flesh and she was his opponent, there would be no escaping his games.</p><p>“Whatever you should desire, precious,” he offered enticingly.</p><p>She nodded tiredly then. “Well, thank you Jareth,” she yawned as she stood to rinse out her mug. “I should go to bed.”</p><p>“I’m more than happy to accompany you,” he offered cheekily.</p><p>She stared balefully at him. “Alone. I am going to go sleep in my bed completely alone, unless Toby has a nightmare, you will go do whatever it is that you do when you’re not helping me.”</p><p>“Neither Toby nor you will have nightmares, Sarah,” he informed her solemnly.</p><p>“Thank you for that,” she smiled weakly. “We have a plane to catch, so I should go back to bed. We have a meeting with McGonagall to take us to Diagon Alley or whatever that is,” she yawned.</p><p>“Take the information for Griphook” he said standing to crowd her. Sarah tensed a little at his nearness; in her dreams his nearness was an illusion and not a threat because in dreams she held the power. Reality though was different, she could feel the heat of his body, smell his scent which was something musky and spicy, foresty, and clear like clean air, in reality they were truly equal power, he could do whatever he desired, but when he didn’t move to touch her or anything, she relaxed a bit.</p><p>“Jareth? Why are you helping Toby and I so much?” she asked as she leaned on the counter. It was a question he had evaded continuously since the first time she had asked him. He seemed intent on crowding her as he came nearer, she studied his face carefully as he looked her over too.</p><p>“I think that is enough for tonight, Sarah, rest up, I’ll see you when you return to Hogwarts,” he informed her as he disappeared in a puff of glitter. She pouted a bit, wondering what the fae was hiding from her, but she didn’t trouble it as she finished the dishes and walked upstairs. She peeked in on Toby, Little Toby and Bam-Bam were sound asleep with Toby who was sprawled out on his back with a foot hanging off his bed. Closing the door, she walked to her room and collapsed on her mismatched quilt, exhaustion hitting her like a freight train.</p><hr/><p>Jareth waited until he was certain she was asleep before he slipped soundlessly into the room. Sarah didn’t stir even a little as he pulled the covers over her and stared at her; she could never understand just how precious she was to him, he knew that, and he was terrified of her walking into the Above Magic world without a clue as to what was happening. With that terror had come the startling resolve to be near her which worked best if she was on good terms rather than fighting him every step of the way. No doubt they would be back to arguing and clashing when the exhaustion of her grief wore off, but for now he would be near her, cautious, careful, especially with her.</p><p>He smirked as he reached down and carefully moved her ebony strands from her face, she would take the Above world by storm, of that he had no doubts, but he would keep his Lady safe while she tore the world asunder again.</p><p>His Lady shifted a bit in her sleep, tilting her cheek into his feather light touch before she slumped into her pillow which had him chuckling as he left her fully then. Of all the stubborn women to become attached to, he had to pick the most obstinate, pigheaded mortal woman in all of time, and he knew she was going to have fun wreaking havoc on the Above. Sarah Williams was a creature meant for hell raising if he had ever met one, it was why his loss to her while a horrible blow to his ego was bearable. She was truly a worthy adversary and he was looking forward to when she would be up for their games to resume. Whether she knew it or not they had been engaged in a battle of wits and wills since she had beaten his Labyrinth.</p><p>Walking into his Castle he could feel his father here which had him rolling his eyes, damn Oberon.</p><p>“Where have you been?” the Fairy King demanded as Jareth walked into the throne room.</p><p>“Managing a kingdom, gathering intelligence, dealing with an influx of Runners, keeping tabs on the Above, how are you father?” he drawled out as he summoned himself a goblet of wine.</p><p>“Using magic so casually now?” Oberon demanded haughtily.</p><p>“My kingdom, my consequences, now what do you want, Oberon?” he demanded as he dropped to his throne, kicking up a leg on the arm of the chair as he rested his head on a fist assessing his father.</p><p>Oberon had never been particularly… thrilled about Jareth, and like his mother, his father tended to pretend he didn’t exist. Which was fine by Jareth; Morgan and Oberon could fuck all, for all he cared.</p><p>Jareth’s kingdom was filled with all creatures from all sides seeking a safe haven from the Seelie and Unseelie conflicts. Which made the Labyrinth both massively prosperous; because Jareth’s kingdom was massive, and he had a living labyrinth wrapping around his people to protect and provide for them. As well as tremendously threatening to both Seelie and Unseelie courts as they were independently ever growing and self sufficient enough not to need either court to stimulate their economy.</p><p>Jareth’s status as an outcasted Fae of dual nature; it was what had had the goblins declaring him their King; giving him the title Goblin King. Goblins were by nature both mischievous and malicious, they were cunning and clever with dimwittedness and good cheer, dangerous and harmless; it all depended upon which nature they were indulging in on a single day as to what a goblin was going to be like. As a wild creature of warring dual nature, he had gotten on with the goblins with ease. Jareth’s adoption into the wild goblin hordes, as well as the erecting of the Labyrinth to run between Seelie and Unseelie lands had formed a formal divide between his parents’ courts and kingdoms. What had made his once small kingdom so prosperous and sprawling was that his dual nature appealed to his subjects. Creatures of all lands came flocking to his Labyrinth and swearing allegiance to his rule and bloodlines; especially after the wars against his twin brother, and his division of the realms; he had torn the realms apart, separating them all, as well as a Master of Time, Reality, and Dreams, he was revered as a ruler. He also terrified his parents because of his powers, which had them, their families, and their courts leaving him and his own well enough alone.</p><p>“Can’t a father check in on his son?” Oberon started.</p><p>“Bog,” he snapped and watched his father disappear leaving him in peace. Let the insufferable fool try to get that stench out.</p><p>“Kingy!” goblins appeared.</p><p>“Make sure that the stupid fairy either drowns in the Bog or is gone,” he ordered.</p><p>“Yes Kingy!” the goblins disappeared in delight leaving him to rub his temple. He hadn’t thought of his nephew in a millennium, naturally this made him think of his brother and it would lead to a migraine of epic proportions.</p><hr/><p>“Do we have to go back to Hogwarts?” Toby asked.</p><p>“Yes, we do,” she answered as she finished getting dressed and poked her head out to see Toby sitting on hallway floor.</p><p>“But I’ll be putting you, Grandma Evy and Grandpa Rick, in danger!” he protested.</p><p>“No you won’t,” she promised. “I’ve been in way more dangerous situations than a wizarding world, Toby; and Grandma Evy and Grandpa Rick were archeologists in Egypt since forever. And this is… it will be good for us.”</p><p>“I don’t want to lose you!” he protested.</p><p>“I’m not going anywhere,” she promised. “And if something does happen to me, you can have my room,” she offered.</p><p>“Not funny!”</p><p>“I’m sorry, buddy,” she sighed. “I’m just trying to do what’s best for you, if you don’t like Hogwarts then we’ll figure out something else out.”</p><p>“Does this have to do with your mystery employer?” he asked her.</p><p>“What do you know about my mystery employer?” she asked as she grabbed their suitcases and loaded them up in the rental car.</p><p>“He’s a he,” Toby answered. “He’s ‘master’ of the castle, that means it’s a guy.”</p><p>“Very good deduction,” she said as they pulled out.</p><p>“Your friend Jared King works for him,” he continued.</p><p>“Sort of,” she agreed. “Where are you going with this, Toby?”</p><p>“Who do you work for?” he asked her.</p><p>“The Master of Castle?”</p><p>“Dumbledore?” he asked.</p><p>“No, the Master of the Castle, not the headmaster of Hogwarts,” she clarified.</p><p>“So who’s the Master of the Castle?”</p><p>“I’ll make a deal with you. You figure out <strong><em>what</em></strong> he is, and I’ll tell you who he is,” she offered. Figuring out what Jareth was would keep Toby busy for a while, and probably distract him for a while. Especially since Toby didn’t know who Jareth actually was.</p><p>Now Toby’s eyes lit up as he stared at her. “He’s a wizard obviously!”</p><p>“You think so!?” she chuckled.</p><p>“Yeah! He’s a master of a magical castle, and employed you, he’s gotta be a wizard!”</p><p>“Are you sure you want to go with that as your first guess?” she asked.</p><p>“Um…”</p><p>“How, about this, that’s a trial guess, and the three guesses start officially when we land in London? And you’ll have the whole school year to guess what he is, but if you don’t have it at the end of the year I win.”</p><p>“Okay… what do you win?”</p><p>“What would you like to win?”</p><p>“A trip to Ireland! Mom was going to take me there next year!” Toby informed her with a forlorn look on his face.</p><p>“Fair enough,” she chuckled. “I’ll take you doing your cleaning of your room without aid or magic all summer; same with any and all chores I, or the grandfolks’ ask of you.”</p><p>“That’s lame,” he declared.</p><p>“Yes, but it’ll be good for you. Now, to answer your trial guess, my employer is not a wizard,” she informed him.</p><p>“He’s not!”</p><p>“Nope,” she shook her head and smiled.</p><p>“Can I meet him?”</p><p>“No,” she shook her head.</p><p>“Do I get any hints about him?” Toby asked her.</p><p>“Nope,” she shook her head.</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“Because it’s a mystery,” she answered.</p><p>“That’s not fair,” Toby muttered.</p><p>“You’re starting to say that so often, I wonder what your basis for comparison is.” She mused humorlessly. “I’m not going to give you hints beyond what you can decipher yourself. I’m not divulging anything other than he’s an adversarial friend of sorts helping me out by employing me.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because he’s bored and busy, and we’re friends,” she shrugged dismissively.</p><p>“How can he be bored and busy?”</p><p>“You can be busy and bored, Toby, it happens a lot to adults.”</p><p>“That’s lame.”</p><p>“Very, but that’s life.”</p><p>“So, you’re his adversary? Doesn’t that mean you’re his enemy?”</p><p>“Well, I suppose at one point we were enemies in a simplistic sense, but really it’s not that straightforward anymore,” she admitted.</p><p>Sarah could admit that Jareth was cast as the villain, a child thief of wished away children; and in her fifteen-year-old mind that mean he was the enemy. But it was just as much her doing as it was his compulsion to follow through with the wish, and then began the game. Looking back on it, they were opponents, they were not a hero and a villain, they were opponents who wanted Toby. She wanted to undo her mistake, and he was taking a child he believed unwanted; what would happen to Toby probably wouldn’t have been bad, looking back on it she didn’t think Toby had been in real danger from Jareth. And what she had learnt last night sort of sealed her inkling towards Toby never being in danger from Jareth when she had run the Labyrinth.</p><p>“What do you mean?”</p><p>“I mean that he was cast the villain and I fancied myself the hero when really we were just playing a game against the other,” she explained.</p><p>“Like on opposite teams?”</p><p>“Like I was the Mets, and he was the Yankees, and we were playing a game,” she explained.</p><p>“But you don’t have magic? That isn’t fair!”</p><p>“I now understand why he gets annoyed with fairness,” she muttered to herself. “No one said the game was fair Toby,” she answered.</p><p>“Did you win?”</p><p>“Yes, I did,” she admitted. “And it’s why I’m apparently his greatest adversary.”</p><p>“But you guys are friends?”</p><p>“Of sorts now.”</p><p>“Do I get any hints about what he is?”</p><p>“No, you’ll have to work off what you have so far.”</p><p>“He’s a he, he’s master of a castle, he likes games but not fair games, he’s busy, and he’s got magic but he’s not a wizard,” Toby summed up.</p><p>“Yup,” she smiled.</p><p>“That’s not telling me anything.”</p><p>“I think, if you know what you’re looking for, you’ll figure him out,” she smiled honestly. She was probably going to have to tell Jareth of this little wager happening and get him to swear not to give any information out.</p><p>“Can I ask how you guys met?”</p><p>“Well, it is involved with the game we played.”</p><p>“That you won?”</p><p>“Yes, that game.”</p><p>“How old were you?”</p><p>“I was fifteen,” she answered.</p><p>“Are you like me!?” Toby perked up.</p><p>“No, Toby, I’m not, I’m just a plain old mortal,” she replied.</p><p>“Is he why you weren’t surprised about Magic?”</p><p>“Partially,” she replied. “I have my own experiences with Magic, Toby. But you mustn’t tell anyone.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because, not everything is as it seems, and if anyone knew what I know it could put me in danger, and we wouldn’t want that,” she explained.</p><p>“Wouldn’t he protect you?”</p><p>“He has a lot of other responsibilities, and while we are adversarial friends, I’m not going to put him in a position where he must select me or his responsibilities; ever, the only way I’ll ever put him in that position is to save you,” she explained.</p><p>“But not yourself?”</p><p>“I am an adult, Toby, I will make my bed and lie in it, but you are a child, if it ever comes down to you or me, I will do everything in my power to save you,” she stated firmly.</p><p> “I need you though,” he stated firmly.</p><p>“And I’m not going anywhere,” she promised. Toby didn’t seem pleased with her promise but she was honest so she knew he would accept her answer.</p><p>“So… he’s powerful?”</p><p>“That isn’t for me to judge,” she answered.</p><p>“That’s not an answer!”</p><p>“I’m being honest, I can’t judge how powerful he is.”</p><p>“But you beat him?”</p><p>“Yes, I beat him at a game, not a competition or something where he exerted his magical skill to its full extent, I was playing a game against him, Toby.”</p><p>“Do you love him?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Does he love you?”</p><p>“That’s his business,” she answered pertly. <em>‘I ask for so little. Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave’</em>, ran through her mind as he held everything out before her and smiled kindly for him.</p><p>“But that’s not a no.”</p><p>“No it’s not a no because I don’t know the answer to that,” she admitted.</p><p>“How can you not know?”</p><p>“Because it’s never come up,” she retorted. “Also, it’s not a topic that is any of your business. He’s a friend for now, an adversarial sort, but he’s a friend.”</p><p>“Do you have other friends I don’t know about that are Magical?”</p><p>“Yes,” she answered.</p><p>“Are they like him?”</p><p>“No,” she chuckled as the images of Ludo, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus passed through her mind. She would have to talk to Jareth about the meetings with them, preferably sooner rather than later; she also really wanted to know why Hoggle was banished from Hogwarts.</p><p>“You’re really not going to tell me about any of this?”</p><p>“Not yet,” she answered. “I was always going to tell you about it, Toby, just when you were older and could understand. And before everything happened, I was actually planning on talking to you about it this summer, but now, I can’t.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because you’re a wizard,” she answered.</p><p>“So he doesn’t get along with wizards?”</p><p>“Apparently not, but until you I didn’t formally know wizards existed!” she sighed in exasperation.</p><p>“What about Jared King? He’s a wizard.”</p><p>“Doesn’t mean he told me about wizards.”</p><p>“But you knew about magic?”</p><p>“Yup.”</p><p>“How’s that work?”</p><p>“It works with the game I played,” she answered.</p><p>“A game you’re not going to tell me anything about other than you won?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Was it easy?”</p><p>“Actually, it was the hardest thing I ever had to do,” she admitted. “But it taught me a lot about myself and about life, and it changed a lot of my perspectives that needed changing. In a lot of ways, it helped me grow up.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Do you like him; you mystery friend?”</p><p>“He’s… tolerable when he’s not being insufferable.”</p><p>“But he’s your friend?’</p><p>“He’s an adversarial friend.”</p><p>“Do you like Jared King more than you like your mystery friend?”</p><p>“I like them about the same. Toby, and I feel like we’re going in circles with this conversation.”</p><p>“Fine,” he rolled his eyes. “But… why didn’t you ever mention them before?”</p><p>Now she sighed. “Because, Toby, a lot of things happened, and we hurt each other to the best of our abilities. Only recently have we reconnected.”</p><p>“Why’d you guys hurt each other?”</p><p>“Because we were both going to do whatever it would take to win,” she answered.</p><p>“What was the prize?”</p><p>“Something beyond precious to all parties involved,” she answered.</p><p>“And it was worth hurting each other to get it?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“This isn’t a game of monopoly, is it? Cause I’ve seen you when you’re losing at monopoly and mom said that’s what sore losers looked like!”</p><p>“It was no mere game of monopoly.”</p><p>Sarah didn’t elaborate as she spent the rest of the drive to JFK asking him about what he needed for school. He talked her through some of the books he would need, and asked questions about types of magic she knew about or had encountered.</p><p>“Sarah?”</p><p>“Yes?” she asked as they were walking through the airport.</p><p>“When we’re at Hogwarts will I be staying with you or in the dorms?”</p><p>“Which would you prefer?” she asked.</p><p>“Dorms,” he admitted shyly.</p><p>“Then you’ll stay in the dorms,” she shrugged.</p><p>“But I don’t… you won’t be lonely?”</p><p>“Toby, if you need me, or I need you, you’ll be able to find me or come visit, my door is always open to you,” she promised as she loaded the overhead bags they had.</p><p>“Ok.”</p><p>“No matter what, I’m your sister Toby, I’m here for you,” she reminded him.</p><p>“But who’s there for you?”</p><p>“I have people, Toby, I’m not completely alone.”</p><p>“Like your mystery friend?”</p><p>“No, but I have other friends who I can always call on when I need them,” she promised.</p><p>“Like Jared or like him?”</p><p>“No, they are not like him or Jared.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Don’t worry about me as much Toby, I will be fine,” she promised. “I will figure things out, you just worry about your new school, making friends, and learning as much as you possibly can.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hermione finished looking over her schedule set up for her Fifth Year, rather pleased with the arrangement.</p><p>There was talk about how the school finances worked, what she was covered for and what she wasn’t, also the requirements for her keeping her scholarships. There was also overview on what the O.W.L.s were and how they would determine her 6<sup>th</sup> and 7<sup>th</sup> year. A plan to speak with a career advisor would scheduled after the O.W.L.s to help her outline her 6<sup>th</sup> year schedule as needed, McGonagall had slipped a personal note in there for Hermione. There was also a letter congratulating her on becoming a Gryffindor Prefect, as well as outlining all those new responsibilities and privileges. Then there was the dorm assignments, she sighed seeing she was again roomed with Lavender and Parvati; she had hopes to request rooming with Ginny or someone she actually liked, respected and tolerated, but there was a note about how that was not permitted. Lastly there was her school schedule.</p><p>Of course, there were her core classes:</p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Transfiguration 5</strong> with McGonagall, which was partnered with Slytherin
<ul>
<li>Tuesday &amp; Thursday 08:30-11:30</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>Intermediate Transfiguration</em> by G.E. Jones</li>
<li>1 jar of snails or slugs</li>
<li>4 rats</li>
<li>1 owl</li>
<li>5 journals</li>
<li>Standard jar of Gobstones</li>
<li>1 cage of finches or canaries; at least 30 live birds needed</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Charms 9-10</strong> with Flitwick, which was partnered with Ravenclaw
<ul>
<li>Monday &amp; Thursday 13:30-16:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5</em> by Miranda Goshawk</li>
<li>1 wand</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Potions Year 5</strong> with Snape, which was partnered with Slytherin, again
<ul>
<li>Monday 19:00-21:00, Friday 09:00-12:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>Magical Drafts and Potions</em> by Arsenius Jigger</li>
<li>1 iron cauldron, standard size</li>
<li>1 copper cauldron, standard size</li>
<li>1 silver cauldron, small size</li>
<li>Standard set of glass beakers</li>
<li>Standard set of 24 glass test tubes</li>
<li>12 boiling tubes; 9 glass, 3 crystal</li>
<li>2 glass, 2 crystal volumetric flasks</li>
<li>3 crystal pear-shaped flasks</li>
<li>1 glass stirrer</li>
<li>1 crystal stirrer
<ul>
<li>Supplies will be provided as needed</li>
<li>All broken class glassware will be replaced</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>A History: Celts and Sei</strong><strong>ðr,</strong> with Binns; which was, as always, taken with all four houses in a three-hour block, once a week.
<ul>
<li>Wednesday 13:00-16:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>A History of Celts and Seiðr</em> by A.C.H. Froud</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Defense Against the Dark Arts</strong> with someone named Umbridge, which was partnered with Hufflepuff
<ul>
<li>Tuesday &amp; Wednesday 19:00-21:00</li>
<li>Supplies will be provided in class</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Astronomy 5; Correlation of Fae Lines and Convergence Alignments</strong> with Oropher, which was partnered with Ravenclaw
<ul>
<li>Thursday &amp; Saturday 00:00-02:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>The Convergence</em> by J. King</li>
<li>
<em>Mapping of the Stars</em> by J. King</li>
<li>
<em>Crystallization of Magic</em> and Stars by J. King</li>
<li>1 standard telescope</li>
<li>1 crystal compose</li>
<li>Topography charts</li>
<li>Graph parchment, standard</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Herbology 9-10</strong> with Sprout, which was partnered with Hufflepuff
<ul>
<li>Wednesday 08:00-11:00 &amp; Thursday 19:00-21:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed
<ul>
<li>
<em>One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi</em> by Phyllida Spore</li>
<li>1 pair of dragonhide gloves</li>
<li>1 dragonhide smock</li>
<li>1 pair of dragonhide boots</li>
<li>1 pair of silver sheers</li>
<li>1 pair of iron sheers</li>
<li>1 copper garden spade</li>
<li>1 iron garden spade</li>
<li>1 iron-copper alloy shovel</li>
<li>1 silver-iron alloy shovel</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p>Then there were her electives:</p><ul>
<li>
<strong>Ancient Runes, Year 3: Celts and Norse</strong> with Babbling
<ul>
<li>Monday 08:00-12:00</li>
<li>Supplies Needed:
<ul>
<li><em>Celt &amp; Seiðr Rune Dictionary</em></li>
<li>
<em>A History of Celts and Seiðr</em> by A.C.H. Froud</li>
<li>
<em>Celtic &amp; Seiðr Deities and Lore</em> by J. King</li>
<li>1 wiccan calendar</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Arithmancy, Year 3</strong> with Vector
<ul>
<li>Friday 13:30-16:00</li>
<li>Supplies needed:
<ul>
<li>3 bronze circlet 3” in diameter</li>
<li>6 bronze disk 6” in diameter</li>
<li>Standard jar of crystals</li>
<li>Standard jar of liquid amber</li>
<li>Standard jar of preserved dragonflies</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<strong>Care of Magical Creatures, Year 5</strong> with Grubbly-Plank
<ul>
<li>Friday 19:00-21:00</li>
<li>Supplies Needed:
<ul>
<li>
<em>Monster Book of Monsters</em> by Edwardus Lima</li>
<li>
<em>Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Volume 3</em> by Newt Scamander</li>
<li>1 pair of dragonhide gloves</li>
<li>1 dragonhide smock</li>
<li>1 pair of dragonhide boots</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul><p>She noted that there were cross over class lectures scheduled between Ancient Runes, Astronomy, and History which she thought was interesting.</p><p>Naturally, Hogwarts offered no school clubs or festivities beyond things like: Frog Choir, or Musical Studies, or Quidditch, or Study Hall, which were all terribly dull, but Hermione wasn’t disappointed with these. No, she just accepted that this was the way of Hogwarts for some reason.</p><p>“What classes are you taking ‘Mione?” Ron asked as he sat down on the bench beside her.</p><p>“Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and Care of Magical Creatures,” she answered. She would have all her core classes with Ron and Harry naturally, but she would have different electives. “You?”</p><p>“Divination,” he said. She pulled a face which had him snorting. “My inner eye saw you doing that before you did it,” he stated which had her snickering into her hand. “Care of Magical Creatures, and Music,” he answered.</p><p>“Divination is nothing but a bunch of rubbish,” she defended.</p><p>“Yeah, but it’s an easy class, and Trelawney just wants the more miserable prophecies,” he said. “I see that there’s cross lectures between History, Astronomy, and Runes though. Any idea why?”</p><p>“Runes is focusing on Celts and Norse this year, and I’m guessing that it correlates with our history and astrological studies. There’s two scheduled cross lectures for the first block between Divination and Astronomy too.”</p><p>“Makes sense,” Ron agreed. “Who’s Umbridge?”</p><p>“No idea, I’ve never heard of them,” she admitted.</p><p>“Bollocks,” Ginny muttered appearing in the room. “I was roomed with Felicity and Sophia again,” she sighed as she sat across from them.</p><p>“I’m still rooming with Lavender and Parvati,” Hermione pointed out.</p><p>“You girls share three to a room!?” Ron asked incredulously as he looked between them.</p><p>“Yes Ron,” she and Ginny responded.</p><p>“We share five to a room!” Ron squawked. “I always have to deal with Seamus, Dean, Neville and Harry!”</p><p>“I’d take them over Parvati and Lavender,” Hermione admitted.</p><p>“Same, Felicity and Sophia are just…” Ginny growled as she put her head down.</p><p>“What electives are you taking Gin?” Ron asked.</p><p>“Oh, Flying 4, because last year I can take that,” she pointed out miserable.</p><p>Ron nodded in sympathy. “I wish that we could take that now, but O.W.L.s take precedence over fun electives.”</p><p>“I’m trying out for Quidditch first thing this year,” she admitted.</p><p>“Gryffindor is holding try outs!?” Ron asked</p><p>“Fred said Angelina is Captain, she needs to find a new keeper, as well as replace three substitutes, the Seeker, and two beaters because Fred and George are graduating this year,” she pointed out.</p><p>“They didn’t tell me that!” he squawked.</p><p>“You didn’t ask, and mum’s been preening over you being a Prefect!” Ginny snickered.</p><p>“I didn’t ask to be one!” Ron protested.</p><p>“Of course not,” Hermione agreed with a chuckle. She knew Ron just wanted to play quidditch and pass his classes with ease. He was far smarter though than he gave himself credit for and she knew he had had good marks last year; despite her minimal involvement with his work, so he was good Prefect material. Also, he, like all the other Weasleys, was great with younger children and friendly enough to be approachable if a younger student had a problem. It was easy to see why Ron had been made Prefect when one looked at him as a whole and not how he saw himself.</p><p>“At least I’m partnered with you, ‘Mione, won’t be all horrid,” he muttered.</p><p>“I’m so thrilled at your vote of confidence,” she chuckled good naturedly.</p><p>Bill walked back in through the floo fireplace and looked down on all of them with amusement.</p><p>“Hogwarts supplies and schedules released?” He asked as he peered over Ron’s shoulder.</p><p>“Yeah,” Ron handed his up to Bill.</p><p>“You and I are about the same size,” Bill muttered. “I can provide the dragon hide materials,” he admitted. “And I think I still have the cauldrons; Charlie will have the books for Care of Magical Creatures, he didn’t hand them down to the twins. I might be able to finagle the glass and crystal ware from Percy,” he muttered.</p><p>“What about me?” Ginny asked handing over her list.</p><p>“Fred and George will have most of these,” Bill observed. “Though we’ll have to by you the right quidditch padding, you’re much smaller than anyone else; ‘cept Percy,” Bill chuckled.</p><p>“Thanks Bill!” Ginny beamed.</p><p>Hermione felt a stab of envy at the Weasley family and their unity, it was something that she had always wanted to experience as a child, but hadn’t, she was a bit lonely as an only child. And now she was practically orphaned because she had sent her parents off so no one could use them against her.</p><p>She said nothing about this though as she sat there watching the Weasleys figure out what could be a hand-me-down and what could not; Ginny and Ron were both arguing over Bill and Charlie’s old brooms when she tuned them out.</p><p>Her parents were set up in Australia, but as a result Hermione knew she was going to have to be careful with her funds for the next few years. She was lucky that she had a scholarship providing food, as well as basic medical care as needed. But she would have to be frugal with her money for now.</p><hr/><p>London was dreary when they returned, she wasn’t surprised. But she was surprised when she and Toby were collecting their bags and an envelope appeared in her hand without her goblins bringing it to her. Bam-Bam and Little Toby were faithfully hanging around her and Toby with additional goblins Goob and Bugsy bouncing around wildly. It was when Bugaboo appeared on her shoulder, gripping her hair handing her the envelope that she knew they weren’t disappearing on their own. Jareth’s ostentatious handwriting was eye catching and she looked it over carefully as she opened it, Bugaboo burrowing into her hair, cackling gleefully.</p><p>“Is that him?” Toby asked as they walked out through the airport.</p><p>“It would seem so,” she informed Toby as stopped near the public payphones. Pulling open the envelope she looked over the contents and sighed.</p><p>‘<em>I would advise against you heading for Oxfordshire with your grandparents at the moment as the school as seen fit to make arrangements for you to stay in London. You are to go to Leaky Cauldron, don’t ask the mortal for the address, go to Charing Cross Road. There you will see the Leaky Cauldron, the school has arranged your reservations at the inn, I have moved you to the first-class suite, reservation is under Lady Williams. Mopsy will be pleased to aid you and young Tobias as needed, just call for her. You will be meeting Professor McGonagall of Transfiguration tomorrow at nine on the dot, I would advise against being late. Post your shopping excursion I will make arrangements for you to go to Oxfordshire.</em></p><p><em>‘P.S. I wonder if your brother can figure out what I am, hint of mine to him is to be wary of what he seeks because as we both know, precious, not everything is as it seems.</em>’</p><p>“For you, my friend has a hint for you,” she chuckled. Toby snatched the letter then and stared at it with wide eyes before frowning.</p><p>“That isn’t a hint.” He huffed as she started dialing the number to their grandparent’s Manor.</p><p>“I think you’ll find that to be one of his more transparent hints,” she chuckled bringing up the receiver to her ear.</p><p>“Why does he call you Lady Williams?” Toby asked.</p><p>“If he’d ever bother to answer that when I asked, I’d happily tell you, but for now I honestly do not know.”</p><p>“If this is a hint from him, I’d hate to see what game you guys were playing,” Toby decided dutifully.</p><p>“I doubt you’d ever play that game,” she stated primly and meant it. Toby was sweet natured and caring; oh, he was utterly ruthless in chess and hockey where he played for blood, but he was normally sweet and caring. He was also resourceful, clever, mischievous, trouble, boisterous, studious, and most active, she was curious what sports Hogwarts had that her brother might participate in. God knew her brother would need an active outlet for his energy.</p><p>“O’Connell Manor!” was the prim answer.</p><p>“Rick or Evy, please, it’s Sarah and Toby,” she said to the butler. She knew she was put on hold when there was silence on the other end of the line.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because you’re not foolish,” she informed him. Toby shrugged.</p><p>“Who’s Mopsy?”</p><p>“Mopsy is a house elf, from Hogwarts, who is like a servant, so be very nice to her and thank her, also you’re still picking up after yourself. Mopsy isn’t our caretaker, though I think we’ll see plenty of her,” Sarah murmured in a hushed tone for Toby.</p><p>“We have a servant? Like Andrews for Grandpa and Grandma?”</p><p>“More like a maid, but we will not be over working or taking advantage of her. You will clean your room, take care of your things, run your laundry,” she warned.</p><p>“Why do we have a maid?”</p><p>“My employer asked her to attend to our needs,” Sarah explained.</p><p>“So… your mystery employer is super rich?”</p><p>“I honestly don’t know,” she exasperatedly admitted.</p><p>“Sarah!” Rick’s voice boomed good naturedly.</p><p>“Hey Gramps,” she chuckled. “I was calling to tell you that we landed safe, because the shopping district is in London, we’ll stay the night, maybe also tomorrow.”</p><p>“You don’t want us to go with you?”</p><p>“Honestly, it’s probably going to be an exhausting day for Toby and I, but we’d love to go with you on the first day of school,” she admitted.</p><p>“Do you need us to get you accommodations?”</p><p>“No, my employer has arranged it,” she admitted.</p><p>“Are you meeting up with that Jared fellow?”</p><p>“No, Jared has his own job to attend to, but the school’s Deputy Headmistress is going to be escorting us tomorrow,” she explained.</p><p>“Ah, get the lay of the land!” Rick ordered.</p><p>“I will try to do that,” she chuckled. “We’ll see you in a few days.”</p><p>“You two remain safe,” he ordered. “Evy is looking for references on wizarding lore.”</p><p>“Which is useful, but Jared and my employer are filling in my gaps,” she explained.</p><p>“Ah, Evy just walked in,” he announced.</p><p>“Grandma just arrived,” she mouthed to Toby when he started looking bored. He smiled.</p><p>“Sarah!” Evy greeted cheerfully.</p><p>“Hey Grandma,” she chuckled. “Look, I’m on a public phone so I can’t stay long.”</p><p>“Alright, dear, but I want you two to buy every possible book on this world, I would like to look over a few things myself,” she stated firmly.</p><p>“One step ahead of you there,” Sarah promised as she leaned on the wall.</p><p>“Good, you two be safe, I love you both!” Evy declared.</p><p>“LOVE YOU GRANDMA!” Toby shouted.</p><p>“You heard that, right?” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“I did, give him a kiss for me! We’ll meet you two in Oxfordshire,” she promised.</p><p>“I’ll call when it’s arranged so you know our arrival time,” she promised. Bugaboo went to bite the receiver which had her pushing him back a bit as she hung up. Hoisting up her bags and one of Toby’s she gestured for them to keep walking.</p><p>“So… Jared…” Toby drawled out as they walked.</p><p>“What about him?” she asked as she picked up the letter from Toby’s hands.</p><p>“He’s not meeting us tomorrow?” he asked.</p><p>“No,” she answered.</p><p>“Is he why you never date?” Toby blurted out which had her eyes bugging out as she spun on him.</p><p>“What!?” she sputtered.</p><p>“Mom always said you were too…” he paused. “Too pretty not to have a boyfriend! She was also frustrated whenever she set you up and you seemed uninterested, she was thinking you were a… a… I can’t remember, but into girls,” he explained.</p><p>“That’d be a lesbian, and I am not one,” she stated firmly. “And Irene always seemed to set me up with trolls! They were so boring!” she huffed.</p><p>“That lawyer was pretty boring,” Toby snickered.</p><p>“And he was a narcists, and he was balding, at twenty-four,” she chuckled.</p><p>“So… is he?”</p><p>“Is he what?” she asked as she hailed a cab.</p><p>“Why you never date?”</p><p>“No,” she promised as a small black cab pulled up to them. “I just never had time to date, and it didn’t seem fair to do that to a guy,” she admitted.</p><p>“Are you dating Jared?”</p><p>“No,” she answered.</p><p>“What about your agent, Mr. Jones?” he asked.</p><p>“No, I’m not dating David either, he’s my boss,” she pointed out in the lamest of terms.</p><p>“Then are you sure you’re not a lesbian?”</p><p>“Positive,” Sarah shook her head as she loaded up Toby and got in the cab. “Corner of Charing Cross Road please,” she huffed as she sat down, pulling off her favorite red fedora, she started running her hand through her runaway loose hair. Bugaboo was cackling as he started untangling her hair.</p><p>“You got it miss,” the cabbie huffed.</p><p>The drive through London was swift and rather tedious but they made it to Charing Cross Road, the cabbie looked at them like they were nuts when she paid him and collected their bags. The Leaky Cauldron was easy enough to spot with Goob and Bugsy leading the way, which had her ushering Toby across the road, through the rain to the pub. Yanking open the door they hurried in and moved. Little Toby and Bam-Bam rolled gleefully past her feet as they tumbled into the pub in front of Toby.</p><p>It was like they had time travelled into another era, which had her frowning as she looked around the smoky atmosphere. Candle lit chandeliers, hundreds of moving photos climbing up the old, white plastered walls, many arches showing the pub. People who were here were dressed in robes, actual robes, as well as a few normal fashions, but more were in pointy hats and billowing robes. Sighing Sarah righted her hat, kept her shoulders back and her head up as she walked through the rather shabby building to what she presumed was the bar or main counter.</p><p>“Excuse me,” she said to the tender who was reading the most bizarre of newspaper. There were moving pictures, shifting words, and every inch of the paper was covered in words, upside down, sideways, and diagonally; it was rather peculiar.</p><p>“How’s can I help ya!?” the man asked with false bravado as he looked over the edge of his paper.</p><p>“I believe we have a reservation under Lady Williams,” she said as Toby crept up behind her, his hand curling in her coat at her waist as he peered around her.</p><p>The tender snapped to attention as he folded up his paper and stood, the man was very bald, and pale, he sort of reminded Sarah of an albino walnut, but she smiled charmingly as the man assessed her.</p><p>“Right,” he nodded. “I’m Tom, Lady Williams,” he introduced.</p><p>“Call me Sarah,” she replied as she shook his hand; it was now that she noticed how terribly hunched over, he was, and the clubbed foot he had when he moved around the counter. The keys jangled as he moved swiftly. Nudging Toby to grab his bag, she blinked when she noticed them gone.</p><p>“Housekeeping took your bags to your room,” he informed her. “Follow me, Lady Sarah.”</p><p>“Of course,” she let Toby grab her hand as they hurried after Tom. It was up three floors that they came to their room.</p><p>“This is our finest suite, only used for the Minister of Magic, but you paid full price for this…” he gestured. Sarah was stunned to see the suite with a desk, sofa, coffee table, a massive hearth, as well as a few winged chairs. There were three doors.</p><p>“Thank you, Tom,” she said with a smile as Toby walked into the room rather curious.</p><p>“Tell me, is you a real Lady?”</p><p>“I have no idea,” she admitted as she shut the door on Tom and looked through the room cautiously.</p><p>“This is my room I guess,” Toby informed her as he peeked in the rooms. She nodded as she took off her long coat and fedora. Setting them to dry on the hooks she pulled off the leather gloves and kicked off her shoes before collapsing on the sofa with a groan of bliss.</p><p>“Sarah?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“How come your employer is paying for us to stay here?”</p><p>“I’ll ask him when I see him again.”</p><p>“But I can’t meet him?”</p><p>“No, you cannot.”</p><p>“Why not? And not because he’s busy.” Toby asked.</p><p>Sitting up Sarah looked at her little brother she softened a bit. “I’m not letting you meet him Toby, not yet, not until you know the full story.”</p><p>“A story I can’t know because I’m a wizard?”</p><p>“A story you can’t know right now because you’re a wizard,” she amended.</p><p>“But you will tell me?”</p><p>“Yes, when you’re a little older,” she promised.</p><p>“But if I figure out what he is you’ll tell me who he is, can I meet him then?”</p><p>“We’ll see,” she decided carefully.</p><p>Sarah didn’t want Toby officially re-meeting the Goblin King until he knew what she had done, why she had done it, and she had reassured him that she still loved him more than life itself and would never have done anything to get rid of him.</p><p>“Go get a hot shower, and I’ll order us some dinner,” she ordered as she watched him grumble but hurried off to go get some clothes for a shower. When Toby was in the bathroom she stood and walked to her room, she was stunned to see her trunk already unpacked. She was swift to change, selecting one of her favored loose sweaters, and a pair of leggings with heavy wool socks she walked out pulling her tangles apart as she twirled her brush absently.</p><p>The lists of supplies that Hogwarts had provided was sitting on the coffee table with the two additional lists from Jareth. She rolled her eyes at the house elf’s actions of putting those there before she started attacking her hair with Bugaboo’s help. Once it was snarl free, she twisted the damp mass into a bun and stabbed it with a pen. Bugaboo disappeared from his normal perch on her shoulders at that action. Like Goob, Bugsy, Little Toby and Bam-Bam, Bugaboo seemed to start examining the rooms of the suite.</p><p>Tomorrow she would have call to set up a meet with her agent, having promised to meet up with him when she returned to London. David Jones wasn’t a perfect man, he was a pushy agent, demanding with her to keep up with deadlines, and ruthlessly tearing through her stories to discard parts. She had wanted to hate the man, but he had pushed her first book through publishing when she was barely twenty in college struggling to make ends meet.</p><p>Of course, David had shown up out of nowhere like a godsend or devil’s nightmare; she wasn’t sure which. It had been a writing competition which had literally brought David banging on her door. He had been enthralled with her writing; going so far as to determinedly track her down to get her to sign him on as her agent, he pushed her novel through the publishing process, securing her a publisher and going over her contracts when they started coming about. It was surprising how profitable all that was, because it had covered most of her university expenses.</p><p>After her first novel, <em>The Owl King and the Peach</em>, she had written short stories for children, a series she had call the <em>Bog of Eternal Stench</em>, because it was all she had time for between classes. They mostly stared Ludo the friendly rock tamer, Hoggle the grumpy gardener, and the valiant Sir Didymus riding his trusty steed, Ambrosius the English sheepdog. She had insinuated the Goblin King was there, not as a villain but as the ruler of their lands, instilling goblins, pixies, fairies alike in these adventures.</p><p>She hadn’t put too much about the Labyrinth in the stories, at least the more dangerous parts of the Labyrinth, but the parts that would excite young children had been created, and those short stories, those children’s stories had skyrocketed her popularity into the fantasy genre. Her graduation she had been hassled by David to write a sequel novel to the first, so she had, and after a painstaking year of arguing, rewriting, plotting, editing, more arguing, editing, and rewriting, she had produced a sequel which was due for it’s release by November 8<sup>th</sup> of this year. She hated what David had dubbed the story, but the title had stuck, especially with editors and publishers, and the fans she had gather: <em>The Goblin Queen</em>.</p><p>David had set up her tours, promoting her series; <em>The Owl King and the Peach</em>, and children’s series; <em>Bog of Eternal Stench</em>, which she had set in the same world.</p><p>Her securing a three-book deal at the beginning of summer had been David’s dream come true, and her career as a novelist officially taking off. So, she would have to meet with David, who had been understanding about her situation and kind enough to help her keep the publishing house at bay while she handled her parents’ estate and funerals, but her return would mean having to work again. Sarah almost dreaded having to go meet up with David to resume her work.</p><p>No matter, it would have to be soon, Toby and she would be going to Scotland on September 1<sup>st</sup> regardless of what David wanted. Perhaps she would buy an actual house in nearby village; she’d have to talk to Jareth about that.</p><p>Ordering room service, she smiled when Toby walked out of the bathroom in their dad’s oversized Mets’ hoodie.</p><p>“Feeling better?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he admitted.</p><p>“Good, dinner will be here soon,” she promised as she curled up.</p><p>“Sarah?” he huffed as he flopped down on the sofa with her.</p><p>“Yes?” she hummed as she started reading over one of the books Toby had from Hogwarts’ library.</p><p>“Are you ever scared?” he asked her. Now she looked up from the book as she looked at her brother.</p><p>“All the time.”</p><p>“I’m scared of going to this school,” he admitted.</p><p>“I am too, because I have no idea what we’re walking into,” she admitted.</p><p>“You never seem scared?”</p><p>“I’ve had a lot of practice hiding it,” she admitted softly.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because I cannot control what is happening to or around me, but I can control how I react to whatever it is that is happening,” she said softly. “You will find there is little you have control over in life, Toby. But you always have control of yourself and how you react to situations, and that is true power.”</p><p>“I’m so scared,” he admitted.</p><p>“Yes, but remember, fear is a reaction, courage is a decision,” she reminded him.</p><p>“What if they don’t like me?”</p><p>“Then they are fools,” she dismissed. “Now, enough worries about fears we can’t control, we’ll have a nice dinner and go to get your school supplies tomorrow, and from there we will see what the day holds.”</p><hr/><p>The day she had come to Diagon Alley everyone was tense, apprehensive, and abrasive. The Weasleys were taking her with them to the bank with other Order members as guards, where they would re-meet up for school shopping, but she knew that everyone was tense. Tonks was especially nervous, having morphed her features to look like Hermione’s sister really.</p><p>New muggleborns were nervous as Ministry and professors guided them to goblin tellers, the goblins seemed in an especially foul mood today, so everything was going slow as it was. The Malfoys had glided in, only for the goblins to demand that they go to the end of the line and wait their turns. Hermione thought it hilarious how Lucius Malfoy was indifferent, and Draco looked bored; but they were made to wait like everyone else at the pace of the goblins. Shuffling forward in her line she continued reading her book, eyeing Draco from the corner of her eye a bit warily, he normally took any chance to torment her which always had her aware of him.</p><p>Suddenly everything in the bank changed, every grumpy demeanor of the goblins suddenly seemed excited as they spoke amongst each other in a language which had Hermione frowning.</p><p>“You know what this is about?” she asked Tonks.</p><p>“No,” the metamorphmagus stated. A set of goblins hurried past everyone and caught the door, opening it and bowing lowly.</p><p>Hermione’s jaw almost dropped when the woman swept in with the grace and poise of a fairy or ballerina. The woman looked ethereal; both the Malfoys were standing at attention at the sight of her; they had always been the showiest peacocks in the room and now this woman moved on the scene.</p><p>She swept in like she commanded the room, her ebony hair long tumbling loosely around her hips, her lips were rouge, her skin had a crème complexion to it, her long black coat billowed around her as she walked, her leather boots echoed on the marble floor.</p><p>The woman was clearly a muggle, though her fashion tastes were rather vintage, it made her look like an out of place adventurer, or a noire femme fatale thief out of those old films Hermione’s father enjoyed. Especially since the lady was wearing a vibrant red fedora.</p><p>She paused at the door, as a young boy walked beside her rather curiously, he was dressed in ostentatious bright blue and orange hoodie for a sports team of some kind, reading Mets, jeans, and converse sneakers. Beside the elegant woman the boy looked out of place, fading blond hair, baby fat, athletic, gangly build too.</p><p>“Thank you, may I ask your names?” the woman asked the goblins.</p><p>“Of course, Lady,” the goblins responded. “Ragnok and this is Gornuk.”</p><p>“It is a pleasure to meet you two, might I inquire to Griphook’s whereabouts?” she asked.</p><p>“Of course, Lady, he’s behind you,” the head of Gringotts announced. “Lady,” he bowed lowly.</p><p>“Oh, so you’re Griphook? A pleasure to meet you,” she declared with an elegant curtsy to the goblin. “Thank you Ragnok and Gornuk, do you mind if my brother should hang out with you?” she asked the other two goblins.</p><p>“It would be an honor, Lady,” the goblins declared which was when Hermione’s jaw dropped. Goblins were not particularly helpful towards wizards, but the mystery lady commanded their better nature, which Hermione had never seen. Not only that, but the lady was also treated with this reverence.</p><p>“Behave, for Professor McGonagall and these gentlemen, I will be back,” she said swiftly as she seemed to float by everyone without a care in the world. All her attention seemed to be on the now blushing old goblin as he hobbled with her, she had slowed her gate to match and they seemed to be speaking not that anyone could hear them.</p><p>“I have never,” Tonks whispered as they both watched the woman walk away into the area people went to the vaults too.</p><p>“I wonder what that was about?” she whispered.</p><p>“No idea,” Tonks whispered back.</p><p>“Next!” a voice bellowed.</p><hr/><p>Sarha struggled with waking but when she finally did wake her eyes felt wet, her head was pounding as if she had been on a binger, and her chest ached. Biting her lip, she rolled onto her back as she released a shuddering breath. The clock on her nightstand read it being seven in the morning, she had to get a move on, she knew that. Professor McGonagall would be here at nine, and it would take her a bit to get ready and a lot more than a bit to get Toby up, fed, and presentable. Slowly she pushed herself up, another pain in her heart which had her wanting to scream, cry and curl up beneath the covers to block out the world encroached on her ability to reason but she still got up. Putting one foot in front of the other she made her way to the bathroom, took a steaming hot shower before getting prepped.</p><p>The heat soothed the aches and pains of her body while also chasing away the chill that had seeped into her bones. It didn’t take long for her to clean herself and start drying off to get ready for the day. Considering it would be a business day she wore a navy-blue vest, poet’s shirt, skinny jeans, and her favorite boots. It wasn’t professional, but it looked nice enough she didn’t think anyone would fuss about her. Combing out her hair she drew it back to keep a good portion of the heavy mass down before she went to work on her make up.</p><p>Once all the war paint was in place to hide her vulnerabilities, she went about waking up Toby. Her brother was about as much of a morning person as she was, which meant not really. The ten-year-old groaned and dragged his feet, fell back to sleep three times before she just stole all his blankets for him up. Toby grumbled as he stubbed his toe, she ordered breakfast then made their beds while he tried to wake up, eating the porridge put before him.</p><p>By the time breakfast was finish Toby was wide awake and nervous, he pulled on Dad’s old Mets hoodie and had on his ‘lucky’ converse sneakers. Pleased that he was dressed they went down to the pub to meet with Professor McGonagall. Bam-Bam and Little Toby had taken up perches on the bar out of everyone’s way, Goob and Bugsy were swinging on the beams above, while Bugaloo had taken a perch on her shoulder, chewing on a strand of her hair. Sarah continued to be surprised at the wildness of the goblins though it appeared no one else could see them because McGonagall wasn’t looking nonplussed at Bugaloo making funny faces at the stern woman.</p><p>“Miss Williams, and Mister Williams!” the stern Scotswoman greeted.</p><p>“Good morning, Professor,” Sarah yawned as she sipped her coffee and tried to caffeinate her way through the developing migraine she had awoken with.</p><p>“Why are we in a bar?” Toby asked.</p><p>“It’s a pub,” Sarah corrected.</p><p>“This is the entrance to Diagon Alley, a main shopping area of our world,” McGonagall explained as she guided them to the back. Sarah saw the brick wall, without really thinking she tilted her head before she reached out, gingerly tapping the bricks in the sequence they were brightest to dullest before the wall sprung to life. The bricks twisted and turned out of the way as they parted, opening to a cobbled street and brightly colored buildings lining the street, people were bustling about.</p><p>“Whoa,” Toby breathed.</p><p>“Miss Williams?” McGonagall started.</p><p>“Sorry, I enjoy puzzles,” she lied as they walked in. Sarah grimaced then as she felt it, the same hum that Hogwarts had. She wanted to pull Toby in close to her out of principle, but she didn’t. Despite appearances Diagon Alley wasn’t the warm inviting place that Dumbledore had painted either, it was rather stifling and paranoid, she noticed how jumpy everyone was, and it was starting to give her a migraine. Especially with how Little Toby and Bam-Bam were arguing about how she should leave, while Goob and Bugsy were bouncing and rolling ahead of her, Bugaloo was growling at anyone who got too close.</p><p>“We should head to Gringotts Bank first, I am sure you would like to open an account for Mister Williams, as well as discuss currency exchange,” McGonagall started.</p><p>“My employer has seen to it that I have a vault, I’m to speak to Griphook alone, but if you would, could you please watch Toby while I take care of this?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“But I want to see!” Toby started.</p><p>“It’s boring money Toby,” Sarah promised. “I’ll show you another time, but for this trip, let me take a look around first.”</p><p>Her brother caught her meaning or a meaning from what she was saying so he quieted and looked thoughtful but nodded at her dictation.</p><p>“Your employer is most generous,” McGonagall informed her.</p><p>“He can be,” Sarah omitted. Jareth had his moments of generosity, but they could be warped; this though was rather tamed for him. In general, as of late, his generosity had been rather tamed; she was awaiting that other shoe to drop.</p><p>“Perhaps you can introduce us,” McGonagall started.</p><p>“He doesn’t like wizards,” Toby muttered moodily.</p><p>“He doesn’t?” McGonagall’s brows rose as she peered at Sarah from over her spectacles.</p><p>“He doesn’t,” Sarah agreed.</p><p>“Well, that is perplexing,” McGonagall started.</p><p>“Not really,” Sarah assured the older woman feeling the migraine come on tenfold. “He’s requested I be discreet about his identity, so I will be, there’s nothing perplexing about his generosity as he can be generous, he leaves your school running as is because it’s not of interest to him.”</p><p>That was a blatant lie, but she wasn’t going to have Hogwarts professors hounding her for information on Jareth. Jareth had clearly stated to her that he liked having access to the Above for information; holding the banks and school as his information center points seemed reasonable enough, especially because she knew it put him in a place of extreme power. If he should decide to recall his Above subjects, she would bet that it would send this world into ruination.</p><p>McGonagall said nothing more just eyed her as if she were a threat or puzzle and couldn’t decide which, that look made Sarah uneasy to be honest.</p><p>As they wound their way through the shops McGonagall pointed out places that they would be visiting for Toby’s supplies, as well as Sarah’s own private list. At the massive sign for Flourish &amp; Blotts bookstore she almost walked off course and into the store, Toby had tugged on her long coat furiously to keep her focused. That seemed to amuse McGonagall before they continued through Diagon Alley.</p><p>Finally, they came to a place that overpowered Sarah as she stopped to stare at it, her hands fisted in her black leather, long coat’s pockets as droplets of water fell off the brim of her red fedora. Before her stood a massive, grand, lopsided building that seemed to be carved of the finest marble, her breath hitched at the magnificent sight, but it stalled when they were coming upon the silver doors. Carved into the silver doors of the bank was a clear warning:</p><p>
  <em>Enter, stranger, but take heed</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of what awaits the sin of greed</em>
</p><p>
  <em>For those who take, but do not earn,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Must pay most dearly in their turn.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>So if you seek beneath our floors</em>
</p><p>
  <em>A treasure that was never yours,</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Thief, you have been warned, beware</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Of finding more than treasure there.</em>
</p><p><em>Where would this take her?</em> She wondered as she almost felt the Labyrinth moving beneath her feet, reminding her of forgotten sensations; it was stronger here than at Hogwarts.</p><p>“Miss Williams?” McGonagall called out for her which had her snapping out of her daze as she steeled her resolve and walked forward. “Is everything alright, dear?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” she started. She had to shove her fears out of her mind, if the Labyrinth hadn’t taken her back when she had awoken in Hogwarts then it was unlikely to steal her and Toby away while they were here. The doors were suddenly opened, and she was stunned, goblins were waiting expectantly for her which had her walking through calmly before Toby and McGonagall could lead her. Toby stared at them rather curiously which had her frowning at her brother who shyly smiled at the goblins instead of his open staring.</p><p>“Thank you, may I ask your names?” she asked as she watched the pair of goblins release the door. They didn’t look like the goblins she had met in the Underground, no, these ones looked a little more nightmarish and intimidating with long fingers and sharp teeth. But the way those beady little eyes were staring at her as if she were something of awe had her smiling at them.</p><p>“Of course, Lady,” the goblins responded with low bows. “Ragnok and this is Gornuk.”</p><p>“It is a pleasure to meet you two, might I inquire to Griphook’s whereabouts?” she asked as she gave them both curtsies; it seemed the polite thing to do after the bow she had received. She remembered the name on the paper in her pocket; she was pleased she hadn’t stumbled over the name either.</p><p>“Of course, Lady, he’s behind you,” an old, firm voice declared. Turning Sarah was greeted by an incredibly old goblin. “Lady,” he bowed lowly to her before standing again.</p><p>“Oh, so you’re Griphook? A pleasure to meet you,” she smiled as she curtsied for him. “Thank you Ragnok and Gornuk, do you mind if my brother should hang out with you?” she asked the other two goblins who were now standing like sentries around Toby, both Ragnok and Gornuk were eyeing Little Toby and Toby cautiously. Bam-Bam and Little Toby were excitedly jabbering away to the goblins around, preening at ‘escorting Lady and Lady’s baby brother!’ as they called it.</p><p>“It would be an honor, Lady,” the goblins declared honestly as they smiled at Toby.</p><p>Toby looked very curious about the goblins, no doubt hoping to figure them out.</p><p>“Behave, for Professor McGonagall and these gentlemen, I will be back,” she rushed to Toby before hurrying after Griphook. It escaped her full attention at how the goblins were revering her, as well as how the wizards around seemed confounded about her. Goob and Bugsy were bouncing ahead of her, while Bugaloo was playing with her hair.</p><p>“I was instructed to give you this,” she said pulling the parchment from her pocket.</p><p>“Of course, his majesty informed us you would come, it is a pleasure to see he kept up the formalities,” Griphook smiled as he accepted the paper.</p><p>“So is this…” she started before she seemed to slam into something hard and fell over, said hard thing toppled down on her, which had her winded.</p><p>“<strong><em>WEASLEY!</em></strong>”</p><p>“<strong><em>LADY!</em></strong>” she heard all the goblins shout as Bugaloo tried to detangle himself to attack her victim.</p><p>“Sorry! I was, oh, Merlin’s beard!” the man said finally getting off her.</p><p>“This is Lady Williams!” the goblin barked harshly.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to…” the young man started. He couldn’t be any older than she, long fiery red hair, blue eyes, a brush of freckles too; very handsome in a roguish way.</p><p>“Never mind that!” Griphook huffed as he seemed to be helping her sit up.</p><p>“I’m fine,” she promised as hands caught her elbows from behind and hoisted her up. “No harm no foul, see,” she promised and turned to thank her helper then found herself staring at an inhumanly beautiful creature, long platinum hair, and startling grey eyes with sharp features, almost inhuman in their beauty; not as beautiful as Jareth, her mind quipped unhelpfully.</p><p>“Mr. Malfoy,” the redhead growled.</p><p>“Are you alright madame?” he asked her levelly.</p><p>“Fine, it was a harmless accident, my fault anyway for not watching where I was going,” she assured him. “But thank you for the help up, Sarah Williams,” she offered him her hand.</p><p>“Lucius Malfoy,” he offered.</p><p>“And you are?” she smiled as she turned on the young man about her age.</p><p>“William Weasley, everyone calls me Bill,” he offered her as he shook her hand with a firm grip. “I’m so sorry again, I’ll help you…” he started.</p><p>“Thank you, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy, but I think I’m really alright,” she assured. “Mr. Griphook and I can manage from here,” she promised as she turned to Griphook who was holding her favorite red fedora for her. “Thank you, Mr. Griphook,” she took her head.</p><p>“This way Lady Williams,” the goblin directed her. She smiled as she waved off the gentlemen behind her.</p><p>“I apologize for Mr. Weasley, he’s from our curse breaker unit, just transferred to a desk,” Griphook explained.</p><p>“No need to apologize, it was really my fault for no paying attention to where I’m going,” she dismissed. “Now, I have some questions about vault 13, I was informed by the Goblin King that I was to use it,” she started.</p><p>“Of course, Lady, it is the right of the Champion. His majesty has set aside the funds you will need, but he also has given you his credit to use at will and informed us you can have full access if you require it.”</p><p>“May I ask why?”</p><p>“Of course, of course, you are Lady Sarah Williams, his equal, your kingdom as great as his,” Griphook explained gleefully.</p><p>“Oh,” she rolled her eyes when the goblin wasn’t looking. She’d have to nail Jareth’s feet to the floor with iron and get answers from him then.</p><p>“Now, your vault is accessible with his majesty’s crystal, or your own, he instructed us to provide you with it; two guards will accompany you, no wand registry shall be made to the vault, as it is in the heart of the bank it is connected to the Labyrinth, should you find yourself there without us just ask for vault 13, it will come to you. Be wary though, Lady, there are dangers untold in this part of the Labyrinth,” Griphook informed her.</p><p>“Dually noted,” she nodded. “Now, how do we get to vault 13, and while we are on the way there, I was told to ask you about these,” she pulled the lists from her envelope.</p><p>“Of course, I will write the shops to go to, if you should not find it, or be taken to it, bring the list of unfound items and I will procure them for you, Lady.”</p><p>“Thank you Griphook,” she smiled at the goblin and ignored her coming migraine as they walked to what looked like a roller coaster cart. “Oh Christ, we have to take that!?” she groaned.</p><p>“Not to worry, Lady, smooth as any ride you are accustomed to, just do not get out of the cart while it is in motion. Goob, Bugsy, and Bugaloo remain here, guard the entrance,” Griphook ordered.</p><p>Her three crazy goblins leapt to attention as doors sealed behind them; she was sealed into the Labyrinth again.</p><hr/><p>Toby smiled at the creatures that his sister hadn’t even faltered step with; he had no idea what they were, but they were most certainly not wizards.</p><p>“Is there anything we can do for you, Master?” one of them; Ragnok? he thought, asked as he guided Toby towards a small waiting area. A lanky blond boy seemed to be watching him, but so was everyone else, it was a bit unsettling.</p><p>“Um… no, I think I’m good, thanks though. You’re… Ragnok, right?” he asked.</p><p>“Yes, Master.”</p><p>“Um… it’s just Toby, not master or anything.”</p><p>“Very well, Master Toby,” Ragnok replied.</p><p>“Can I ask what you are?” he asked.</p><p>“We are goblins, Master Toby,” Ragnok said as he sat down.</p><p>“Oh. Can I ask why everyone is calling my sister ‘lady’?” Toby asked; he wondered if this had something to do with her mystery employer. Perhaps these goblins knew something about Sarah’s mystery friend! He would ferret out information on that friend now! With that in mind he smiled eagerly as he looked at the goblins.</p><p>“Because she is Lady Sarah Williams,” the goblin answered.</p><p>“Yes, but why? Sarah isn’t a lady, she curses, and throws a mean right hook according to David,” Toby said.</p><p>“It is her title as well as a sign of our respect,” Ragnok replied patiently.</p><p>“New to the Wizarding World?” a voice asked; it reminded Toby of the posh tossers at his school, but he slowly turned to look up at the lanky blond boy.</p><p>“Mister Malfoy,” Professor McGonagall started.</p><p>“Yeah,” Toby admitted.</p><p>“Going to Hogwarts?” the boy, Mister Malfoy, asked.</p><p>“Yeah, Sarah was going to get money so we could buy supplies.”</p><p>“I see,” the boy purred rather amused. “I’m Draco, Prefect of the Slytherin House,” he offered.</p><p>“Toby,” he offered as he shook the hand offered.</p><p>“What part of America are you from?” Draco asked as he took a seat then with an intense look of interest in his grey eyes.</p><p>“New York, not the city, I’m from Saugerties,” he explained.</p><p>“Lovely area,” Draco admitted.</p><p>“You’ve been?”</p><p>“My father has a lot of business in the States,” he admitted.</p><p>“Cool!” Toby brightened. “I didn’t know there were wizards in America!”</p><p>The boy let out a good-humored chuckle. “It wouldn’t make much sense for there not to be, very different wizarding culture there.”</p><p>“Sweet!” he grinned. “You said you’re a Prefect, what’s that?”</p><p>“I help the Head Boy and Head Girl of my Hogwarts house out by looking out for some of the younger students,” he explained.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yes,” he drawled out.</p><p>“Could you tell me what or who the Master of the Castle is?” Toby asked; perhaps the boy knew.</p><p>“I don’t believe Hogwarts has a ‘Master of the Castle’,” Draco admitted.</p><p>“But you have to, he employed my sister!” Toby stated.</p><p>“I think you mean the Ministry did that,” he started.</p><p>“Nope,” Toby popped his ‘p’ and smiled. “Sarah is employed by the Master of the Castle as the Keeper of the Library!”</p><p>“I’ve never heard of that happening, but we can ask my father about it,” Draco offered.</p><p>“I don’t think that will be necessary, Mister Malfoy,” Professor McGonagall stated through clenched teeth. Toby flinched a bit at the way she was looking at the boy beside him.</p><p>“I’m just having a friendly conversation with a future student who could be in my house,” Draco stated. Toby didn’t know what was happening or what he was in the middle of but he didn’t like it as he looked down at the goblin who shook his head.</p><p>“Would you like some tea or refreshments while we await Lady’s return?” the goblin asked.</p><p>“Yes please,” he nodded.</p><hr/><p>Sarah was grumbling to herself as she tried to regain her footing and bearings.</p><p>“Hello precious,” a voice purred as she found herself standing before a massive, ancient door. He materialized without any glitter or showy acts. He was dressed rather tame for him again, though his hair seemed rather out of control as compensation.</p><p>“Jareth,” she greeted.</p><p>“Majesty!”</p><p>“I will show Sarah the vault,” Jareth declared as he made a sweeping gesture, crystals landing in key holes as he flicked his wrist. She watched in awe as the Celtic interlocked art started to shift, to move, to unwind itself slowly before the heavy silver doors opened with ease that she didn’t think they would have. “Come along, precious,” he offered his elbow to her.</p><p>She didn’t know why but she accepted his elbow as she walked into a vault that was like a skyscraper, massive, plummeting into the depths of the unknown earth and reaching skywards. All of it was lined with gold, treasures, weapons, even massive tomes. Jareth caught her waist as they walked onto a platform, her stomach dropped as she clung to him when the platform started rapidly sinking into the endless hole.</p><p>“Ah, here we are,” he calmly declared as they came to an abrupt stop before a different level, he guided her off of the platform and waved his hand, the door dropped open and he ushered her in.</p><p>“This is yours,” he declared indifferently. “I had the goblins double check the numbers, so it should be an accurate account of your winnings, and investments; also, the interest.”</p><p>“Jareth!” she gaped at the mounds of treasures and gold before her.</p><p>“You are my Champion, and it is your spoils,” he informed her cagily. “I have also gathered more information about the ongoings of the Above.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“You and Toby are walking into a war,” he said as he handed her a massive envelope. “Those are the players, I have this for you,” he materialized another envelope. “These are the families likely to come to your aid if you should call, they are my subjects even if they have forgotten.”</p><p>“Would we have this problem in America?” she sighed tiredly as he seemed to be filling her purse with the coins needed.</p><p>“If I am right about what is going on, then yes, nowhere is safe, but you are safer in my domain.”</p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p>“I don’t know, yet, but I have theories,” he admitted as he handed her the purse. She accepted and was stunned at how light it was. “If you have troubles, I have twenty-eight families that will rally to your aid, the most immediate of them will be the Malfoys and Weasleys, but there are more; I have lost track of them though.”</p><p>“Are these exiled members of the Underground?” she asked as she opened the envelope and saw the men who she had first ran into and then been helped up by.</p><p>“In a manner of speaking,” he sighed. “I had some subjects who pleaded for mortality and a life Above, in exchange they swore their family lines to me and my nephew; I have never called upon that oath, but I am now. They will feel compelled to seek you out, ensure yours and Toby’s safety, as well as your great-grandparents, and your mother if she were to be in the area.”</p><p>“Oh,” she blinked rapidly, the packets were detailed. “You didn’t have to do this,” she started.</p><p>“You are my Champion,” he replied as if it were that simple.</p><p>“I don’t mean to steal time from you Jareth,” she promised.</p><p>“You, my precious thing, can have it all if you but say the right words,” he promised solemnly.</p><p>“Oh, before you go, while I have you here, I have a job other than the one you’re employing me for, I kind of need technology and I noticed Hogwarts doesn’t really…” she started. “So, I was thinking to buy a cottage or something near the school, to use as needed.”</p><p>“I will have Mopsy and the goblins set up your technology, please remain on the grounds of Hogwarts, it makes it easier,” he said.</p><p>“You’re freaking me out with all your ‘please’s,” she muttered.</p><p>“I have manners!”</p><p>“Poor ones,” she retorted.</p><p>He made a face of mockery as they walked out of the vault. “You have no room to speak of manners, Sarah.”</p><p>“I have manners,” she retorted. “And I’m a very polite person, you can ask Griphook.”</p><p>“You toppled one of my human employees!”</p><p>“I wasn’t paying attention; I didn’t purposely tackle the man!”</p><p>“But it’s rude all the same!”</p><p>“You have no ground to stand on, because you threw me in an oubliette!” she snorted.</p><p>“You insulted my Labyrinth!”</p><p>“It was a piece of cake!”</p><p>“I will throw you in the oubliette again!”</p><p>“No, you won’t!” she sang out giddily as she took his arm before their platform rush upwards. “You have no power over me, Goblin King!”</p><p>“You are the most impolite, infuriating, cruel mortal I have ever encountered,” he declared.</p><p>“And yet they call me Lady,” she mocked.</p><p>“That’s because you are, not in manners though.”</p><p>“I have manners! You don’t.”</p><p>“I am a King.”</p><p>“I’ve seen your Castle, it’s like you were raised in a barn!”</p><p>“You saw what you thought should be, not what was,” he countered.</p><p>She shook her head as she fought off the smile. “Thank you, Jareth, for everything.”</p><p>“Of course,” he nodded.</p><p>“Can we arrange how I see Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus?” she asked as they walked through his vault towards the cart again.</p><p>“When you are settled at Hogwarts,” he replied calmly.</p><p>“Why is Hoggle banished from the Castle Above?” she asked.</p><p>“Because he did something treacherous and foolish.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“You didn’t think the peach was his first offense!?” he demanded.</p><p>“No, but I also know there’s more to that then he ever told me, or you ever told me,” she sighed. “You’ll tell me about that one day, right?”</p><p>“Why would I ever do that!?” he demanded incredulously.</p><p>“Because we’re adversarial friends,” she shrugged.</p><p>He rolled his eyes as he helped her into the cart, carefully before he removed his hand from hers. “Until next time, precious.”</p><p>“Thanks Jareth,” she waved him off as Griphook bowed lowly and Jareth melted into the shadows again. “I think that’s all,” she admitted.</p><p>“Then we are away, Lady,” Griphook declared.</p><p>It was only now that Sarah noticed her headache was gone and she felt calmer and more sure of herself as they raced for the main area of the bank.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Bill Weasley was not a man to be easily startled because to be jumpy was to be dead in his profession. However, he had been stunned when he crashed onto Lady Sarah Williams.</p><p>Lady Sarah Williams had been a puzzle he had been puzzling since Evelyn O’Connell had held a gun on him. Evelyn might be a sweet old woman in her nineties, but Bill wasn’t too foolish to think her some doting old woman, she was a revered expert in Egyptology, a professor in History, Religion, Theology, her husband was a renowned archeologist, and they had been famed for fighting off grave robbers. Bill knew that Evelyn was dangerous, aged or not, so he wondered about Sarah Williams.</p><p>That is until the woman stole his breath when she crashed into him.</p><p>Of all the things Bill had been expecting from a girl who turned Hogwarts wards on their head, and worked for a mystery, he hadn’t expected her to be so real. Which was what she was, as he watched her walk off with Griphook while she righted her red fedora. The way the goblins were staring at her; a mixture of adoring worship and reluctant awe; completely befuddled Bill. No one, and he did mean no one, could ever get that look off of a goblin. The most that he had ever seen was a bland look of disinterest or mild disdain, but never this. Muggles and wizards alike were unsettled by goblins, it was how goblins looked like little nightmares, but Lady Sarah looked at the goblins like they were something else. No fear, no uncertainty, no discomfort in her gaze. He was impressed.</p><p>Walking back in his original direction he headed for his family, and saw Lucius Malfoy talking to a few of the goblins watching Lady Sarah as she walked off. Stranger yet, was how Lucius Malfoy was acting about the lady.</p><p>“Who was that?” his father asked.</p><p>“They called her Lady Sarah Williams,” Bill admitted.</p><p>“Must be a dark one, Malfoys bowed to her,” Ron muttered sourly.</p><p>“I don’t know,” Bill muttered. Nothing about Lady Sarah Williams had struck him as dangerous or dark, just an unknown. Bill was still befuddled by her beauty though, the way her green eyes had looked, it was like she could see into his soul without trying or meaning to. She had been stunning too, pouty lips, pert nose, he almost thought her ethereal or a form of perfection impossible to be human, but then he saw the flaws, the unique bits that made her human.</p><p>“If Malfoys like her she must be,” Ron dismissed.</p><p>Bill shook his head in exasperation. Much like their father, Ron had strong prejudices against the Malfoys. Bill would like to say he didn’t have them, but he did, and he was aware of this, but the Malfoys; once he had left Hogwarts and started looking at them rather objectively, they weren’t really evil or good, they operated a lot in the grey areas of magic. It was interesting.</p><p>“Someone should go talk to the boy, he appears uncomfortable with Malfoy and McGonagall,” his mother stated as the family shuffled forward. Bill sighed as he shoved his hands in his pockets and meandered his way towards the boy.</p><p>The boy was in an animated discussion with Ragnok and Gornuk, both goblins were looking at the boy with the same expression they had looked at Lady Sarah Williams with. The boy looked over at the young Malfoy with bright green eyes at something the lad had said.</p><p>“Professor,” he greeted McGonagall with a smile as he approached. She looked torn between displeasure and disbelief. Both Draco Malfoy and the boy’s gaze turned to him.</p><p>“Are you a wizard too!?” the boy demanded eagerly.</p><p>“Uh… yes, yes I am,” he replied stunned at the canter and accent of the boy. The child was wearing the most ridiculously bright blue and orange hoodie.</p><p>“I’m Toby, I’m going to Hogwarts,” the boy declared.</p><p>“I’m William Weasley, I work here,” he said. “Everyone calls me Bill though.”</p><p>“Cool! So, you work with Ragnok and Gornuk!?” the child asked excitedly. The goblins both seemed enamored with the boy and amused at his enthusiasm.</p><p>“Yes, I do, Ragnok is my boss,” he chuckled. “Where are you from?”</p><p>“New York, not the city, Saugerties,” Toby stated.</p><p>“Mister Williams is a new student to Hogwarts,” McGonagall stated.</p><p>“What house do you want to be in?” Bill asked the boy.</p><p>“Slytherin sounds cool, but I’ll have to read the book Sarah has to decide.”</p><p>“Slytherin is the best,” Draco declared smugly.</p><p>“Gryffindor is better,” Bill stated firmly. “Our common room is in a tower; you can see all of the Highlands from it! Including the Forbidden Forest and Black Lake.”</p><p>“That’s neat!” Toby smiled as he swung his feet and sipped his tea.</p><p>“Master Toby will be sorted in the house best suited for his talents,” Ragnok declared.</p><p>“What’s that you’re wearing?” Bill asked. “Never heard of the Mets.”</p><p>“You’ve never heard of the Mets!” the boy openly gaped at him. “It’s only the best baseball team ever!”</p><p>“Nice try kiddo,” a voice declared as Lady Sarah Williams seemed to materialized behind Toby, startling everyone but the goblins, as she smiled fondly at the boy. “The Mets are the best underdog team of the MLB, but they are not the ’27 Yankees.”</p><p>“Is that so?” Draco drawled out looking at the woman.</p><p>“They’re the best, ignore her,” Toby declared.</p><p>“Ah, I am offended!” she gasped.</p><p>“True Mets fans know we’re the best!” he sneered. “And you dare to call yourself my sister!”</p><p>“Need I remind you I am also a cursed Mets fan?” she tugged on her brother’s ear.</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“Hey what?”</p><p>“Stop!” the boy giggled.</p><p>“Never! But I have our money,” Sarah declared as she pushed her brother up to his feet.</p><p>“So… we can go exploring now!?” the boy demanded gleefully.</p><p>“When you remember your manners, then we’ll go.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“It was a pleasure to meet you, Ragnok and Gornuk, thank you again for your assistance. And I apologize again for running into you Mr. Weasley,” Sarah said standing straight as she righted her long coat before giving the goblins both a graceful curtsy then gave him a wave.</p><p>“Thank you Ragnok and Gornuk for the biscuits,” Toby said with a small bow like his sister had gestured. “And it was nice meet you, Mr. Weasley. I’ll see you at school Draco,” Toby waved.</p><p>“Very good, off we go, to Ollivander’s first, correct?”</p><p>“Correct,” McGonagall said as they walked off.</p><p>“Let us get the door, Lady,” the goblins hurried ahead of her and Bill was once again stunned at the grace with which the woman had swept out of here with.</p><p>“What an odd creature,” Bill chuckled.</p><p>That woman wasn’t evil, or if she was; which he sincerely doubted, she was very good at hiding it.</p><hr/><p>Hermione had been ditched by everyone for Quality Quidditch Supplies, which had her in Flouirsh &amp; Blotts alone. She was fine with it, Diagon Alley was far too public of a place for the Death Eaters, who had been keeping a somewhat low profile since Harry’s declaration of Voldemort’s return while dragging Cedric’s dead body with him. Also, it would get her away from Harry and Ron who were both moodily upset that the Order wouldn’t let them join. She was so tired of that argument between the three of them, so she was a bit relieved to be in Flourish &amp; Blotts alone.</p><p>“Toby, after this shop we will go to lunch,” a voice said. Hermione peered around the shelves she was in to see the strange woman from Gringotts.</p><p>“But I’m hungry! And I don’t want to go to your stupid meeting,” the ten year old appeared in the same bright blue and orange that made him stand out.</p><p>“I don’t want to go either, but we’ll get lunch while we’re there, then be on a train for Oxfordshire.”</p><p>“I don’t want to go to that lunch,” Toby said.</p><p>“And I don’t want to go to another joke shop, but we will and make this work. Now hurry up, here’s your list,” the woman stated.</p><p>“You’re going to get lost in here and forget about time,” Toby stated.</p><p>“No, I have a list from my employer, I’ll explore it a different day, but for now, I need you to get your books for school while I get mine,” she stated.</p><p>“Dad would’ve just let us get lunch now,” Toby muttered as he stalked off, the woman looked stricken but sighed. Hermione bit her lip as she hesitantly approached the woman.</p><p>“Excuse me,” Hermione said softly.</p><p>The woman looked up from her parchment, neatly folding it as her ruby lips turned into a polite smile. “Hello.”</p><p>“I’m sorry, um… Hermione Granger,” she declared as she held her hand out for the woman.</p><p>“You may call me Sarah Williams,” the woman said as she took the hand.</p><p>“I don’t want to be rude, but I saw you at the bank,” Hermione started.</p><p>“What about the bank?” Sarah asked curiously. “Did I do something wrong, or strange?”</p><p>“No, I was just very curious, are you a representative for magical creatures from America!?” Hermione asked eagerly.</p><p>“Actually, I am not,” Sarah chuckled as she started looking over the shelves and picking up books from a list. “I’m a novelist working in London currently.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Truly.”</p><p>“Oh, I just… it’s, I’ve never seen the goblins act like that, and I want to go into the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures; I want to change things,” Hermione explained.</p><p>“I see,” Sarah nodded. “Well, I don’t know anything about Wizarding Britain.”</p><p>“But you know about Wizarding America!?”</p><p>“No, I’m… what was it, I’m a muggle,” Sarah chuckled as she motioned for Hermione to walk with her.</p><p>“You are?”</p><p>“Yes,” Sarah nodded. “My employer is the one with a close working relationship with the goblins.”</p><p>“Your publisher?”</p><p>“No, the Master of the Castle at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, I will be working as the Keeper of the Library.”</p><p>“Like a librarian?”</p><p>“I guess, I haven’t had much of a chance to speak to my employer about what exactly it is he wants me to do in his castle,” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“Oh, you mean Dumbledore?”</p><p>“I do not,” Sarah stated. With the distaste at Dumbledore’s name clearly displayed on her face. “No, I work for the Master of the Castle, not the school, I’m not employed by the Ministry either.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“So, what is it you wanted to ask me before you knew I was a muggle?” Sarah asked with a bemused expression as she started pulling books down that seemed to appear for her.</p><p>“Oh… Um, I was wondering what you did to get the goblins to be so… happy?, to see you,” Hermione admitted.</p><p>“I did something foolish,” Sarah answered. “And apparently said foolishness has made me a Lady somehow, I’m not entirely certain how though.”</p><p>“What did you do?”</p><p>“That is my business, Miss Granger.”</p><p>“Sarah, I can’t find <em>Magical Theory</em> by Adalbert Waffling!” the boy rounded the corner. “Oh, I didn’t know…”</p><p>“You’re fine Toby, let me see that,” Sarah demanded as she plucked the list from her brother.</p><p>“Going to Hogwarts?” Hermione asked as the older woman seemed absorbed in her reading and checking over titles that the boy had in hand.</p><p>“Yeah,” he nodded.</p><p>“I’m Hermione Granger, Prefect for Gryffindor,” she stated with a smile.</p><p>“Cool! I met another Prefect at Gringotts!”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“He said his name was Draco, he was really cool and nice!” Toby smiled. Hermione blanched internally.</p><p>“He’s something,” Hermione offered diplomatically.</p><p>“Wait here Toby, I’m going to see if I can get your final books,” Sarah said absently as she walked off with her nose buried in the parchment.</p><p>“Hey, do you know what the Master of the Castle is?” Toby asked as he dropped his books on the floor and sat down unceremoniously.</p><p>“No,” Hermione admitted as she crouched to his level. “I didn’t even know Hogwarts had one.”</p><p>“Everyone is saying that!” Toby huffed.</p><p>“Why do you want to know who the Master of the Castle is?” Hermione chuckled.</p><p>“I don’t want to know who he is; I need to know what he is.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah! Sarah’s mystery friend isn’t a wizard, and if I figure out what he is then I get to go to Ireland, also she’ll tell me who he is.”</p><p>“You’re certain it’s a ‘he’?”</p><p>“Yeah, Masters are guys.” Toby stated this like she was slow, and she chuckled.</p><p>“Well, I wish you all the best in your hunt,” Hermione chuckled.</p><p>“Here you are Toby, and now we have everything, come on, let’s check this out and we’ll drop it off at our room before going to lunch. It was a pleasure to meet you Miss Granger, I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts.”</p><p>Toby groaned.</p><p>“Don’t give me that, young man, this is the last meeting I have with my agent before we go to Oxforshire, come on,” she ordered.</p><p>“Can I meet your mystery employer instead?”</p><p>“Absolutely not!” Sarah barked. “Come on, you like David, it won’t be that bad,” Sarah declared as they walked to the counter. Hermione chuckled at the sight of the elegant woman and the boy arguing before they swept out of the shop.</p><p>“Can I get an owl!?”</p><p>“No, but you can get a niffler; my employer insists,” was the last thing Hermione heard before the door shut.</p><hr/><p>Jareth walked into his Labyrinth to see his court assembling, which had him wanting to turn in the opposite direction.</p><p>“Kingy! Fairy Kingy wife here,” one of his goblins informed him.</p><p>A groan nearly escaped him at the thought of dealing with Tatiana after having bogged Oberon. Oberon would likely have sent his stepmother to attempt to manage him, Jareth was unimpressed and unwilling to listen to Tatiana though he wouldn’t just outright bog her. The temptation was there to break that agreement though, his stepmother wasn’t overly fond of him. Though that could be because he was a mark of Oberon’s infidelity.</p><p>“Send her away,” he ordered. “I will not deal with her or any Seelie representative brought to my courts. At this time.”</p><p>“Yes majesty!” the goblin disappeared, and he threw open the doors to see the court assembled. Sindarian, Silvan, Noldorin, and other Elves, Veelas, Sprites, Faeries, Fairies, Trolls, Ogres, Goblins, Grims, Pixies, Doxies, Dwarves, Centaurs, animals, and everyone were assembled.</p><p>“Is it true! Is she safe!?” the voices started roaring, he ignored it all as he walked through the throng of people towards his throne. Bombarded by worries and fears of his court and assembled he made it up the steps to his throne before turning, throwing a crystal in the air with a booming sound had them all silencing.</p><p>“Now, that is enough,” he hissed as he fixed his gloves as he sat down.</p><p>“Is it true, Majesty that someone dared to attack our Lady?” a Sindarin elf demanded.</p><p>“Lady Sarah Williams was attacked, as was her brother, Master Tobias, by dark forces,” Jareth stated.</p><p>“What will we do?” a dwarf demanded. “Is Lady safe?”</p><p>“Nothing can be done at this moment, the Lady is safe in the Above, the twenty-eight will be summoned to her protection,” he explained.</p><p>“Is it possible the attack was because of the… the missing piece?” a Centaur demanded.</p><p>“I do not know, but I will talk to the Seelie and Unseelie courts, and the Above will continue to gather information about what had happened.”</p><p>“Is it possible they know?” a pixie asked him. Jareth looked over the court and sighed; the very same thought and worries had struck him the moment that he had felt her return to the Labyrinth.</p><p>“For now, the Labyrinth remains safe; I do not know if Lady Sarah was specifically targeted or not. Sentries will be posted on the outskirts of the Labyrinth, Runners will continue, though we will ensure their safety, dreams will continue to be woven and we will continue,” he stated. “I have assigned goblin guards to Lady Sarah and her brother, Master Tobias, and I will keep an eye on the situation Above personally. As to fears about this being the work of the missing piece I will investigate it,” he stated. “That is all,” he dismissed.</p><p>The people here dispersed, and he lounged in his seat rubbing his temples. One whisper of the missing piece near their Lady and everyone was up in arms, it was exhausting; especially because Sarah had no idea what she had done to his kingdom. A goblet of wine materialized in his hand and he started sipping it as he tried to clear his mind again.</p><p>He hadn’t worried about the missing piece in a long time. He hadn’t needed to, but this attack on Sarah had unsettled all residence in the Labyrinth because she was their Lady. Jareth doubted she knew what she had done as a child, and he hadn’t been inclined to share with her what exactly she was now. Sarah though was his Lady, and a member of his house and his people adored her, an attack on her was enough to have them preparing for war and thinking the worst. If it was the worst…</p><p>The thought petrified him.</p><p>If that missing piece were near her, he’d tear all realities apart to keep her safe. The thought of the missing piece had him getting up to move through the castle to check the piece which had been placed in his custody well over a millennium ago. He would investigate the possibility that what had happened Above to Sarah and her family was because of the missing piece but he hoped to everything he dared believe in that it was not that. Anything but that. Moving through his castle he wound his way into a place light was completely absent, his Unseelie nature though did not notice its absence as he walked.</p><p>It had been well over a thousand years since he had last been down here, not even when his nephew had died had he come to this place.</p><p>Slowly he wound his way through the underbelly of his own dungeons, his blood splattered on the walls, painting the ruins that kept his most dangerous prisoner captive. The iron laced through this area was sickening, toxic amounts, as well as trapped in a natural salt cavern was also nauseating; it was the only place where no magic could flow. The sentries were careful when they were here rotating carefully to not be exposed to no magic, iron, salt, and the evil which was imprisoned here for long.</p><p>Reaching the massive iron vault door, he gestured for it to be open, the door was massive. The stone giant statues standing sentry slowly reanimating as they moved to open the heavy vault, finally though the door opened to the pitch-black cavern. Walking in the darkness sprung to life, illuminating the evil which slumbered. His brother’s broken body sealing the fragment, a bloody mess, with the blood seals still painted vibrantly on the walls, the iron spikes piercing his brother’s torso and the darkness subdued within and beneath his brother. There was no stirring of life here, no resonance of the evil which was sealed here.</p><p>Carefully he examined the parts of his brother he possessed before leaving. Once the massive door was sealed and locked again, he stalked toward his castle. Fighting off the nausea he made his way towards the wines.</p><p>Jareth hoped to every deity possible that it was anything but a missing piece of his brother near Sarah. If it were that missing piece then it wouldn’t take much for a resurrection to happen, and that thought sent ice into his blood.</p><p>If it was the missing piece, then the biggest problem would be Sarah and Toby’s safety.</p><p>Once she was in the walls of Hogwarts he would relax, until then, he conjured a crystal to watch her. She was walking with Little Toby, Bam-Bam, Goob, Bugaloo, Bugsy, and Toby through London; part of him wanted to go Above to ensure her safety but he wasn’t keen on walking through the iron infested cities of the Above.</p><p>“I wish the Goblin King would take you away right now!” a wish chorused through the air dramatically.</p><p>Sighing Jareth got up to do his duty. There was one advantage to Sarah being Above and a novelist, she had strengthened peoples dying beliefs in his Kingdom, she had reignited it with a fiery passion though. He hadn’t been this busy in well over a century.</p><p>His Lady’s powers, her will, her words, they had magic flourishing, like a delicate spring after a harsh winter, it was amazing to see both Above and in the Underground. His Lady was beloved to her subjects for reasons she did not know, she was completely unwitting in strengthening his magic and his people. He smiled as he remembered how she endeared herself to Griphook, who was one of his most hardened spymasters. The goblin had been blushing like a green lad looking at a lass for the first time without thinking a female was a diseased creature.</p><p>Getting up he went to go retrieve the child and to continue his duty.</p><hr/><p>Admittedly she should’ve known better than to hope for a chance to get to Oxfordshire today. After her meeting with David, she had had a lang phone call with Rick and Evy about why she couldn’t just get to Oxfordshire. In exchange for David being willing to work around her new standing in life she would have to be here for a few days to work on this rescheduling. Very few things couldn’t be moved but they would both need to look at her schedule to do the rearranging.</p><p>Evy and Rick had declared they would be in London tomorrow. Evy wanted to work at the museum and Rick was more than happy to go exploring while Sarah worked on her job for the next few days. Sarah warned them that she wouldn’t leave the hotel she and Toby were staying at, and since it was a magical inn that Evy and Rick couldn’t be here, but that didn’t seem to perturb them. Toby hadn’t been happy about this change, but he was consoled that Evy and Rick would be here.</p><p>Now, Sarah fell onto the sofa after Toby had collapsed on his bed, out like a light, as she crossed her ankles and started going through the notes that David had given her, he had also given her about forty different numbers she could reach him out; the sheer amount of fax numbers and pager numbers she had was concerning; also, that brick he carried around and called a mobile. Sarah sighed as she looked over the notes, suddenly her feet were lifted and resting on something warm.</p><p>“I’m not saying no, but shouldn’t you buy me dinner first? It’s normal in my world,” Sarah said blandly as she lowered the notes to look at Jareth who was sprawled over the couch and examining her toes.</p><p>“Why are they red?”</p><p>“Because it makes me feel pretty. What brings you here, I saw you this morning?” she sighed as she pulled her feet from him and curled up.</p><p>“Wine, I need wine, here,” he materialized goblets which had her frowning.</p><p>“If this is that elven wine, I don’t think I should,” she admitted with a wrinkle of her nose. That wine was too good, and she didn’t need to end up on the floor; not when she and Toby had to pack tomorrow, and she needed to make a trip into London again. She had to remind David she would not being book tours or any of that, she would do talks, but she wasn’t touring anywhere if it meant she left Toby behind.</p><p>“It’s Sindarian wine, very good, but weak alcohol,” he informed her.</p><p>“What are Sindarians?” she asked.</p><p>“I am not sober enough and you are not intoxicated enough for me have this talk,” he informed her.</p><p>“Why are you here?” she asked.</p><p>“Because I find myself in need of nonimbecilic company,” he answered then mouthed non-imbecilic a few times.</p><p>“That’s not a word,” she informed him as she took a sip of the word.</p><p>“I’m a King, I’m making it a word,” he nodded.</p><p>“Seriously, you were fine this morning, what happened?” she asked him.</p><p>“I had to visit my brother today, cheerful as always,” he cheered himself before he knocked back the goblet of wine.</p><p>“Your nephew’s father?”</p><p>“What’s left of him,” he grimaced. “And I didn’t want to drink alone anymore,” he declared.</p><p>“Mmm,” she hummed.</p><p>“Why’d you name your book <em>The Owl King and the Peach</em>?” he asked.</p><p>“Oh, the novel,” she blinked. “How do you know about that?”</p><p>“Keeps me busy, Runners believe more now,” he sighed. “No one has beat me though, no one but you, Champion,” he smiled lopsidedly.</p><p>“Well, I titled it after you, you inspired it, Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus all have their own stories, mostly child’s stories, but you… you inspired a novel, so I named it for you,” she admitted.</p><p>“Owl King sounds better than Goblin King,” he chuckled. “But you used my title in the book.”</p><p>“Seemed easier, it also made for a better story if no one knew the Goblin King was the Owl King until the end,” she shrugged as she sipped her wine.</p><p>“I like it, I’m adding it to my titles,” he informed her with a slur and laugh.</p><p>“I would’ve thought you already had it,” she chuckled.</p><p>“No, precious thing,” he chuckled. “But I think I need copies of your book for the Underground,” he informed her.</p><p>“Why ever would you want that?” she asked as she set aside the wine.</p><p>“Cause… Runners,” he answered.</p><p>“Mmm, alright, I’ll talk to David about getting a few copies.”</p><p>“Oh, what’s a niffler?” she asked.</p><p>“Oh! You got one for Toby!” he looked gleeful then.</p><p>“No, the pet shop laughed us out the door, calling it a destructive little troublemaker, so why would you tell me Toby needs one?” Sarah asked him.</p><p>“They are destructive little troublemakers, but protective, good natured, and like shiny things, like you, precious.”</p><p>“I’m not shiny,” she pointed out to Jareth as she took his goblet from him before he could refill it.</p><p>“Nifflers are useful,” he nodded as he tried to keep the goblet out of her reach.</p><p>“Delightful, now I think I should have that goblet, Jareth!” she reached again.</p><p>“No, I don’t think so!” he retorted.</p><p>“Jareth, you’re drunk, and I have a ten-year-old in the room next door, I am cutting you off for now!” she snapped, he thrust the goblet at her and sighed sourly. “Thank you,” she huffed.</p><p>“Can I take you to the train when you go?”</p><p>“You want to go with us to the Hogwarts train?” she asked.</p><p>“To ensure your safety,” he assured her.</p><p>“Mmm, make that decision when you’re sober,” she stated as she got up with the goblets and set them on her dinner tray. Turning back, she saw him sleeping on the couch, sighing she went to her room, grabbing the spare quilt that was on the end of her bed she walked back out and blinked.</p><p>He was gone.</p><p>Confusing fucking fae, she thought with shake of her head before walking back into her room. He was sprawled out on her bed, which had her biting back the urge to throw water on him and kick him out. Exasperated she pulled the blankets over his limp frame before she grabbed a pillow before she stalked back to the couch and fell onto it.</p><p>Bed stealing Goblin King!</p><p>She was going to have to put that in her next book to spite him.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Today was the big day, massive, huge, and terrifying, part of him dreaded today, and another part was exhilarated, while a larger part just wanted his mom and dad here to hug him and promise him that it would be alright. Having Sarah with him made it all bearable; and he knew that it made him sound like a little kid unwilling to release his favorite blanket or sucking his thumb, but she did make all this bearable. He was so shocked and awe with the world they found themselves within, Sarah had merely given a bemused smile and walked forward confidently.</p><p>And it was days like today as he trotted alongside his sister and grandparents, that he wondered if she was like the elves Tolkien had written about, his hand fisted on her jacket as people parted for her like she was a queen. That was a thing about her that made him wonder if she was a witch or elf like in Tolkien’s stories, people just seemed to move for her. They looked at his sister with awe and wonder, and they moved for her.</p><p>“Platform 9 ¾s of all the bizarre things to demand,” Sarah muttered to herself.</p><p>“It doesn’t make any sense,” Grandma Evy declared.</p><p>“Forget sense, what sort of magic is this using,” Grandpa Rick huffed as he leaned on his cane.</p><p>“Could it be a magical password?” Toby offered.</p><p>“Not this again,” Rick groaned which had Toby snickering.</p><p>He smiled a bit as he traced the feathers of the owl Sarah’s employer had procured, it was a massive barn owl, rather beautiful too. The only thing was Sarah hadn’t put it in a cage like he had seen at the pet shop they had visited. But he was glad the owl wasn’t caged; the creature was too beautiful and too wild to shove in a cage; that just seemed cruel in Toby’s mind.</p><p>“There’s platform 9, and that’s 10…” Sarah looked between the four pillars and Toby bit his lip nervously. “Oh! I get it!” she smiled gleefully then.</p><p>“Get what?” Toby asked as he looked away from the owl and at his sister.</p><p>“Alright, Platform 9 ¾s is that pillar,” she pointed to the third pillar.</p><p>“How…?” he whispered.</p><p>“One quarter, two quarter, three quarter, four,” she counted pointed. “So that,” she pointed to the third pillar again. “Must be where Platform 9 ¾s is concealed.”</p><p>“OH!” he smiled then.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Rick asked her.       </p><p>“Only one way to find out, come on,” she smiled madly as she moved their cart to line up with the pillar. He gripped his sister’s coat before she walked forward, never slowing or faltering in stride as he jogged to keep up with her. He screwed up his eyes when they were about to hit the wall only for nothing to come.</p><p>“That was a piece of cake,” she muttered suspiciously as he openly gaped at the massive red locomotive train engine before him.</p><p>“Whoa,” he whispered.</p><p>“Whoa is right,” she agreed.</p><p>“I can’t believe that worked!” Came Rick’s voice.</p><p>“It was like Hamunaptra!” Evy giggled.</p><p>“We are too old for this!”</p><p>“Oh, where’s your sense of adventure?”</p><p>“Back in the 70s!”</p><p>“We were great explorers!”</p><p>“Evy, we were younger.”</p><p>“What’s Hamunaptra?” he asked as he held onto Sarah’s coat.</p><p>“Well it’s how we met,” Evy answered.</p><p>“I never did get rid of this broad after this,” Rick chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her waist. Toby gagged at the lovy-dovy looks they were giving each other as he looked up at Sarah.</p><p>“How’d you get so good at all this magic stuff?” Toby asked.</p><p>“I imagine it’s the same way you got so good at hockey, practice.”</p><p>“Are you sure you’re not a witch?” he challenged, the barn owl took off then, taking to the air gracefully.</p><p>“I’m sure Toby,” she chuckled. “I don’t think my friend would be my friend if I was,” she admitted.</p><p>“Will he not be my friend cause I’m a wizard?” he asked her nervously.</p><p>“No, you he likes,” she replied. “It’s complicated for him Toby, he has his reasons for why he isn’t overly fond of witches and wizards and they’re his reasons alone, they aren’t our business.</p><p>“Do you know so much about magic because you’re a writer?” he asked her.</p><p>“Some of it,” she admitted. “Now, pocket check, do you have your wand? Money? Some snacks? I don’t know how long your train ride will be.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Robes?” Evy asked.</p><p>“Yup,” he nodded.</p><p>“Oh, such a handsome chap,” Evy chuckled pulling him in for another hug. “We’ll see you on holiday love, be good for your sister.”</p><p>“He’ll be fine Evy!” Rick scoffed as he waved Evy off him. Toby chuckled as he looked at Rick then. “You’re going to be fine, give them hell.”</p><p>“Rick!” Evy protested.</p><p>“What!? He’s an O’Connell, he should give them hell!” Rick stated. “’Sides when I was his age I was already in the French Foreign Legion!” he huffed.</p><p>“Gramps, you were a little older and I’d really rather Toby not go to the French Foreign Legion,” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“Why not? I could go to cool places like Egypt, be like Gramps,” Toby pointed out.</p><p>“Because I said so,” Sarah cut off. “Now, you have everything?”</p><p>“Yes Sarah,” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Good, I’ll see you up there kiddo,” she promised.</p><p>“You’re… you’re not going with me!?” he stuttered out in disbelief, they were supposed to go up there together! He didn’t want to go there alone!</p><p>“No, I’m not a student, Toby, nor am I staff, but I will be at Hogwarts for when you land there. My friend is seeing to it I’ll be at the station to greet you when you get off the train and that I’ll be at the Sorting Feast,” she explained.</p><p>“I can’t go there alone!” he shouted.</p><p>“It’ll be an adventure,” Evy started.</p><p>“But I can’t go alone!” he protested.</p><p>“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t help but overhear you,” the posh accented voice from a few days ago announced. Toby turned to stare up at the lanky boy from the bank, Draco. “If you want, you’re free to come sit with me and my friends, we wouldn’t mind a Yank sitting with us.”</p><p>“Um…” he blinked as he looked at Sarah then the boy. “Are you sure?”</p><p>Most of the time when older kids offered to help out the younger kids it was some sort of prank; at least, in his experience.</p><p>“Of course, I’m a Prefect, it’s my job to look out for you kids,” Draco chuckled.</p><p>“That’s very kind of you,” Evy offered for him, Toby took this time to lean his back against Sarah and pull her arms around him.</p><p>“I’m Draco Malfoy,” the boy offered.</p><p>“Sarah Williams, and it appears you’ve met Toby,” she chuckled as she hugged him tightly. This was the thing about Sarah, he thought, she’d charm anyone without thinking twice about it. “These are our great-grandparents, Rick and Evy O’Connell.”</p><p>“It’s a pleasure,” Draco said. “And if you want, my father can help you arrange transport up to Hogsmeade.”</p><p>“Oh, thank you, but I’ll get there, my employer has seen to it,” Sarah promised. Toby wasn’t sure he wanted to go up towards Hogwarts alone though, he didn’t like that thought, especially after everything that had happened this summer.</p><p>“He has?” Rick asked.</p><p>“Yes, he has,” Sarah assured her grandparents.</p><p>“Draco,” a new feminine voice joined them, Toby hugged Sarah’s arms closer to himself. “Who is this?”</p><p>“Mother, this is Lady Sarah Williams and her brother, Toby, and their great-grandparents, Rick and Evy O’Connell,” Draco stated as the sleek blonde lady walked forward dressed like one of those femmes fatal in one of dad’s old flicks. Sarah sort of liked to dress the same way, but Sarah always looked like an adventurer, this lady looked like a lady.</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” the lady said. “I am Narcissa Malfoy,” she introduced.</p><p>“Pleasure,” Sarah replied. Toby saw the same sort of reverence the goblins had had come into this lady’s eyes as she looked over Sarah.</p><p>“Why are you looking at my sister like that!?” he asked.</p><p>“Toby!”</p><p>“WHAT!?” he shrieked as she tugged his ear.</p><p>“You know what!” she snapped.</p><p>“I’d kind of like to know why too,” Rick said.</p><p>“You guys!” Sarah groaned as her head fell back.</p><p>“It’s fine,” Narcissa chuckled. “And truthfully, I’ve never seen a person who can make goblins bow, I’m rather curious about you, dear. Please don’t take offense to that curiosity.”</p><p>“I didn’t make them do anything,” Sarah stated firmly. “I don’t know why they bowed, but they did it on their own accord, now you should hurry up and get on the train, this place seems to be filling up,” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“Goblins?” Evy asked.</p><p>“They run the banks, grandma,” Toby filled in.</p><p>“You should go get a seat Draco,” Narcissa said.</p><p>“Right, come on Toby,” Draco offered with a kind smile.</p><p>“I’ll see you at Hogsmeade,” Toby grumbled as he followed Draco.</p><p>“We’ll see you at Christmas! Call any time! Don’t forget to write!” Evy ordered.</p><p>“Evy!” Rick sighed. “Give them hell kid!”</p><p>He waved at them as he walked with Draco onto the train.</p><p>“It’s a magic train,” Draco pointed out.</p><p>“Oi! Drake!” a voice shouted.</p><p>“Blaise,” Draco replied.</p><p>“You would not believe the insanity of this summer! Who’s the kid?”</p><p>“This is Toby, Toby the wanker here is Blaise, also a Slytherin mate of mine,” Draco explained.</p><p>“What’s the Mets?”</p><p>“Only the greatest baseball team ever!” Toby grinned.</p><p>“Baseball huh, you a yank?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he nodded.</p><p>“Never met a proper yankee wizard! What’s baseball and is it like quidditch?” Blaise asked him.</p><p>“Is quidditch the game on brooms?”</p><p>“Yeah, so we have four balls, seven players on each team and three hoops for scoring,” Blaise started.</p><p>“Malfoy!” a voice shouted; Toby turned to see a very bushy haired witch with a lanky ginger trailing after her, come storming towards them.</p><p>“Now you done it, had to wake the lioness,” Blaise hissed at Draco.</p><p>“It’s probably nothing,” Draco shrugged, Toby though thought the blond looked nervous.</p><p>“Head Boys and Head Girls have asked for the Prefects,” she stated. He recognized her as the bookshop girl who he had chatted with.</p><p>“Corrupting children to the dark side early now, are we?” the redhead sneered while glaring at him. Blaise tucked Toby behind him then.</p><p>“Ronald!” the girl hit the redhead’s chest then.</p><p>“That was uncalled for!” Blaise snapped. “He’s a little kid! You don’t see us picking on kids!”</p><p>“You guys pick on everyone,” the redhead growled.</p><p>“Oh enough!” the girl shouted. “Hello Toby.”</p><p>“Hi, Miss Granger,” he replied shyly.</p><p>“Would you like to come sit with me and Ron?”</p><p>“No, I’ll stay with Blaise and Draco,” he decided then; the way the redhead, Ronald, was glaring at him was enough to have him wanting to hide.</p><p>“Sounds like a plan, mate, we’ll go get a compartment and you can tell me about baseball.”</p><p>“You’ll tell me about quidditch?”</p><p>“Absolutely!” Blaise grinned. “Drake, mate, we’ll be in the normal section,” Blaise declared as they walked onto the train. “Sorry about that mate,” Blaise said. “Weasleys are an entertaining sort but they don’t like our house, vicious rivalry to be honest, gets proper wicked between Drake and Weasel Face.”</p><p>“Oh,” Toby nodded.</p><p>“So, you’re from America, never been to America, what part?” Blaise asked.</p><p>“New York, not the city, Saugerties,” he explained.</p><p>“Nice,” the older boy grinned. “Any wizarding family over there that I might’ve heard about?”</p><p>“No,” Toby admitted. “Professor Dumbledore said my family was muggles, I don’t think my sister is though. Or our great-grandparents.”</p><p>“Muggles?” Blaise inquired.</p><p>“No one in my family did magic, but I think my sister knows magic,” he explained.</p><p>“How’s that work, MACUSA has one of the most invincible Statutes of Secrecy in the Wizarding World, how’s a muggle know about magic?”</p><p>He shrugged. “She’s going to be working at Hogwarts for the Master of the Castle as Keeper of the Library.”</p><p>“Master of the Castle? You mean the Headmaster? Dumbledore?” Blaise asked as he took Toby’s bag and put it in the overhead before they sat on plush old seats.</p><p>“No,” Toby shook his head. “She won’t explain it but she’s working for the Master of the Castle, not the school or the Ministry.”</p><p>“Interesting,” he nodded. “Proper mystery on our hands!” he smiled slyly.</p><p>“Hullo Blaise,” a girl appeared with dark hair and bright blue eyes. “How was your summer?”</p><p>“Interesting, you, Daph?” he asked.</p><p>“Dull,” she rolled her eyes. “Who’s this?”</p><p>“Toby, sorry kid, I didn’t catch your last name?” Blaise looked at him.</p><p>“Toby Williams,” he offered his hand to Blaise.</p><p>“Oh, very formal,” the dark boy chuckled as he shook. Daph looked amused as she walked over.</p><p>“Daphne Greengrass,” she offered. “Pleasure to meet a proper wizard, ignore Zabini, he’s a bad influence.”</p><p>“Only the best sort love,” the older boy grinned. Toby snickered into his hand.</p><p>“I’ll be back later, I was coming to tell you to save Drake and I seats, and if you see Pansy I didn’t do it, I don’t know who did, and I want nothing to do with it,” she stated.</p><p>“Hey! Wait a minute!” Blaise was up chasing her.</p><p>“Oh and tell Milly and Trace I’m not cleaning up their mess!” she shouted as she disappeared.</p><p>“Bloody cunt,” Blaise muttered sourly as he sat down again. “That’s Daphne, our Prefect for Slytherin.”</p><p>“Like Miss Granger?” Toby asked.</p><p>“Yeah, but for my house, Slytherin,” Blaise shrugged. “What house do you think you’ll be sorted into?”</p><p>“Um… I don’t know,” he shrugged. “They all sound cool,” he admitted. “Gryffindor seems brave, Ravenclaw is for the smart kids, Slytherin for the ambitious, and Hufflepuff for the rest.”</p><p>“What a load of rubbish that book teaches you lot,” Blaise muttered. “Not your fault really, they should teach muggleborns about the wizarding culture before dumping ya in like a bunch of goldfish.</p><p>“Gryffindor is for the bold, the valiant, the knight in shining armor types, they’re the often times hardheaded, determined, and single minded in their quests. Not a bad lot objectively, but… very black and white views on a very grey world. Hufflepuff isn’t just the rest, no matter what that cunt hat says, ‘puffs are a hard-working sort, very loyal, usually kind and thoughtful sort. That ain’t being the rest, they’re the kind that will work; they’re the ones you want in a crisis, they work the problem and get to the other side. Ravenclaws, yeah, thems a scholarly lot, but more than that they are witty, very brilliant, but they tend to lose themselves in daydreams and theories, they will be the ones to argue morals, ethics, and philosophy all day and never tire of it. But you give them a problem they’ll pull it apart give you twenty solutions. Slytherin, my house, we are the cunning, the resourceful, the utterly ruthless, we play to win, no matter what we do, we aren’t losing, we’re innovative, inventive and clever, it’s not just about ambition, it’s about how we use that.”</p><p>“Huh,” Toby nodded.</p><p>“So which house do you want to try for, kid?” Blaise asked with a smile.</p><p>“Hufflepuff maybe but Slytherin sounds cool.”</p><p>“I knew I liked you,” the older boy chuckled.</p><p>“If I went to a different house could we not be friends?” Toby asked uncertainly.</p><p>“We’d be friends no matter what house,” the older promised. “Might get a little dodgy if you go to Gryffindor but we’d still be friends.”</p><p>“If I go to Slytherin will you help me figure out what the Master of the Castle is?”</p><p>“Obviously, we’ll get Draco in on it, he’ll figure it out if anyone can.”</p><p>“Really!?”</p><p>“That tosser might not look it but he’s the second smartest bloke of our school, he’s more versed in magic and adapting it than any other bloke or bird in this school, and he’ll know more lore, law, and general stuff than any history book ever could. Only person who might know more is possibly is Granger, but if you’re not in Gryffindor she’s not likely to help you out there.”</p><p>“Oh. She seemed nice in the bookstore,” Toby mumbled.</p><p>“I don’t think she’s a bad sort, but she’s so busy wrangling Potter and his lot to notice anything beyond the Gryffindor bubble,” Blaise shrugged.</p><p>“Oh. Well maybe she can help me if we can’t figure out what the Master of the Castle is.”</p><p>“Why aren’t you looking for a who? Why a what?”</p><p>“Cause if I figure what he is, I get to go to Ireland.”</p><p>“Cool, yeah, I’ll get Draco to help you out,” Blaise promised. “So about this baseball…”</p><p>“One of the best sports ever!” Toby declared gleefully as he started explaining the teams, rules, and game in general. It wasn’t like he was talking about hockey, but he was wearing his dad’s Mets hoodie, not the Islanders hoodie; that was in his bag.</p><p>“Sounds pretty wicked for a muggle sport,” Blaise admitted.</p><p>“Not as good as hockey, but it’s fun!” he admitted.</p><p>“A different muggle sport?”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s played on skates and ice, it’s a lot of fun, I had a scholarship to play at St. Michaels for them but…”</p><p>“Hogwarts is cool, I’ll even give you private training and you can try out for quidditch next year,” Blaise offered.</p><hr/><p>Sarah waved Toby off as the train pulled out of the station, and as parents dispersed, she felt a weight on her shoulder which had her looking at Jareth as he watched the train go.</p><p>“He’ll be fine, right?” Evy asked.</p><p>“I think so, he’s an O’Connell,” Rick assured her grandmother.</p><p>“He’ll be fine, Draco will keep him out of trouble,” Narcissa assured. “This is the hardest part,” she sighed.</p><p>“Reminds me of the War,” Evy admitted.</p><p>“The War?” Narcissa asked.</p><p>“World War II, Rick was on the continent but I accepted the refugees from London, the children, they all came by train,” Evy explained. “I housed about seventy children in the Manor I think.”</p><p>“We should go,” Rick said. “Not much more we can do from here, Evy,” Rick pointed out.</p><p>Sarah watched the train disappear as the owl settled on her shoulder, Jareth nipped at her earrings.</p><p>“I’ll walk you out,” Narcissa offered.</p><p>“That’d be wonderful,” Evy decided.</p><p>“You guys go on, I have to meet with my employer to head out,” Sarah said as she stood.</p><p>“Are you certain you don’t want us to go with you?” Evy asked.</p><p>“I’m sure, I’ll call when I get to Hogsmeade, tonight or tomorrow,” she promised.</p><p>“Oh, very well, be safe deary,” Evy ordered coming to hug her. Sarah smiled a bit.</p><p>“I will,” she assured her grandmother.</p><p>“Fuck being safe, give them hell, Sarah,” Rick ordered as he gave her a massive hug then. “You look out for your brother, but you look out for yourself as well,” he whispered in her ear as Evy abomished him telling her to raise hell.</p><p>“I will, Gramps, I’ll see you guys at Christmas,” she promised.  “And I’ll call, we’ll write, look out for the barn owl,” she murmured.</p><p>“Take care,” Evy said.</p><p>Sarah waved them off as she watched them walk out with Narcissa Malfoy who seemed interested in what Evy was recounting.</p><p>“So, how am I going to get to Hogwarts?” she asked leaning on the redbrick wall as she looked at the owl who was still settled on her shoulder.</p><p>The owl said nothing.</p><p>She gasped as it felt like the wall behind her gave and she felt like she was falling.</p><p>“<strong><em>YOU BASTARD!</em></strong>” she screamed as she toppled head over heels, trying desperately to catch anything when it all came to a stop. She hovered an inch over the ground before it dropped her, a pair of boots appeared before her which had her glaring up at the Goblin King. “I really dislike you right now,” she growled.</p><p>“Come now, Sarah, all the niceness just isn’t us,” he smiled a smile which was all sharp teeth and mischief.</p><p>“What are we doing now, Jareth?” she huffed as she got up, dusting herself off.</p><p>“We are going to my castle, Above, which is much faster if we go through the Underground,” he explained.</p><p>“I’m not running the Labyrinth again,” she grumbled.</p><p>“As much fun as that could be, Sarah-mine, it wouldn’t be much of a challenge for you,” he chuckled humorlessly. “This way,” he gestured as a wall dropped and she sighed.</p><p>“I swear if I’m late meeting Toby at the train station I will make your life hell, Jareth,” she warned as she fixed her favorite hat on her head and started walking with him.</p><p>“Oh, promises-promises!” he mused good naturedly.</p><p>“What exactly will you be having me do as keeper of your library,” she asked as they walked.</p><p>“Not much, there are books I have sealed within the Castle Above that need protecting, mainly from the Headmaster, the current librarian is a dismal creature,” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“You’re being awfully generous to creatures you call parasites,” she mused.</p><p>“Most are not intolerable, but most are too greedy for their own good,” he grumbled. “We were not always Underground, Sarah, there was a time when my kind ruled over the Above.”</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Wizards decided they wanted more than they could ever hope to handle, and as you know my kind are not good at producing children, so we were outnumbered.”</p><p>“I can’t imagine that; I mean you’re powerful…” she started.</p><p>“All power has limits, my dear, mine are exceptionally hard to reach for none, but you, have a will as great as mine,” he said.</p><p>“So, your magic is based off will power?”</p><p>“In a most basic sense.”</p><p>“How’s it different from Toby’s?” she asked as he caught her waist and hoisted her over a river.</p><p>“I create it, Toby will harness it. Mortal wizards and witches are typically conduits for magic, they are descended from Changelings, fairies, fae who have all intermingled with humans, and as such have a natural inclination to tap into magic, they can feel the fae lines, and veil.”</p><p>“Changelings, as in fairies?”</p><p>“Many different kinds of Faeries exist, and some decide to become Changelings to lead mortal lives,” he explained. “Toby though is not like normal wizards; I suspect it may have to do with his time here.”</p><p>“Well how’s that make…”</p><p>“No one has ever won a child back, Sarah. No one. You are the first and only Champion of the Labyrinth,” he stated. “I have never returned a child who was wished to the Underground back to the Above, never relinquished control of nor released a child. Toby was the first child to ever come, be touched by the faeries, to be cared for here, and returned. You were the first Champion. I do not believe Toby’s magic will be akin to normal wizard magic.”</p><p>“Well then why does he have magic and I don’t?” Sarah huffed as she walked up the hill.</p><p>“I do not believe you do not possess magic, but only time will reveal.”</p><p>“How do you mean?”</p><p>“The Labyrinth imparted with you a piece of itself, whatever the prize you left with it was more than the child,” he said as he offered her a hand. She took it and he pulled her up so they were nose to nose. “You are unlike any creature to enter or to leave my Labyrinth and the Underground, I do not know how that affected you beyond my subjects adoring you and the Labyrinth obeying your will.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“Is that all you have to say, precious thing?”</p><p>“Well, I don’t know what to say, I said what I said when I was a child because I thought…”</p><p>“Words have power, as you know, I am not sure of the full weight of what you had said,” he admitted and released her.</p><p>“So… you really have no power over me?” she asked him.</p><p>“You are my only equal Sarah,” he stated harshly as his eyes narrowed on her with a look she couldn’t identify. “For your will as strong as mine, and your kingdom as great; oh, I do not believe we know the full extent of those word, but it is safe to know you are my equal.”</p><p>“Is that why the Lady nonsense happens?”</p><p>“You earned the title Lady when you declared yourself my equal,” he stated. “It is a sign of respect and what you declared, child or not, you are Lady of the Labyrinth for no kingdom is as great as mine,” he answered.</p><p>“I’m…” she gaped.</p><p>“There is no kingdom, in any of the fae realms, in which there exists a kingdom which is as great as mine, Sarah. I am the Goblin King, and my kingdom ever expanding, growing, your declaration has imparted you with my kingdom, though to what degree I do not know. The Labyrinth and the Kingdom are still mine, but they respond to you, therefore you are Lady of the Labyrinth.”</p><p>“I’m not Goblin Queen or something, right?” she hugged as he hoisted her over some ruins.</p><p>“No, only I can claim the Goblin Queen and you are not her,” he stated firmly.</p><hr/><p>Hermione watched as the car of Prefects and Head Boys and Girls dispersed and she stalked over to where Malfoy was sitting, sitting across from him she glared.</p><p>“Whatever you’re doing to Toby stop it, before you hurt him.”</p><p>“Why on earth would I hurt him, Granger?” Malfoy asked in clear exasperation.</p><p>“I know you,” she hissed. “You hate muggleborns, he’s a muggleborn.”</p><p>“No, I don’t hate muggleborns,” Malfoy sneered at her. “I just dislike you, self-righteous Gryffindors who think the world is black and white.”</p><p>“You call me a mudblood, that’s what Toby is,” she retorted.</p><p>“Granger, if you understood, truly understood, the world of Magic then you would know what mudblood actually meant; I haven’t used that vile insult since I was a in third year. And before you start in about my insults, Granger, remember I’m not the one who dubbed an entire house evil just because the precious Dumbledore declared it such.”</p><p>“You pompous!” she started.</p><p>“Draco, we should go, Blaise is holding out seats,” Daphne appeared.</p><p>“Coming Daph,” Malfoy was up grabbing his bag as he left Hermione.</p><p>“Blaise found a proper yankee wizard, you know about that?” Daphne asked.</p><p>“His name is Toby, Daph, his sister will be working at Hogwarts.” Malfoy got the door for Daphne and disappeared into another car leaving Hermione fuming.</p><p>She didn’t know what game Malfoy was playing with Toby Williams, but Hermione was going to put an end to it before the kid was hurt beyond measure. Slytherins were nothing but a cruel, conniving lot, and they loved inflicting pain and terror upon the other houses…</p><p>Hermione stopped that line of thought as she frowned.</p><p>Getting up she went to her compartment to where Ginny and Harry would be, perhaps she could get Ginny or Harry to keep an eye out for Toby, if only because she knew that Ron never would thinking the kid had already declared his allegiance to the dark side when Blaise had stepped between Toby and Ron. She had actually been surprised at Blaise doing that, and it was clear from that point that Toby was more inclined to trust Blaise than Ron; not that she could blame the kid.</p><p>She found Ginny and Harry sitting with Neville and Loony Lovegood.</p><p>“Hermione!” Harry gasped out.</p><p>“Hi Harry, sorry, but I need to borrow Ginny, back in a jiff!”</p><p>Ginny looked confused but came after Hermione.</p><p>“I need a favor, Gin,” Hermione started.</p><p>“Yeah, what sort?”</p><p>“There’s a First Year here, his name is Toby Williams, he’s an American, I just… keep an eye out for him, please,” she said.</p><p>“Of course, but why?”</p><p>“He’s a muggleborn that Malfoy has taken under his wing,” Hermione grumbled.</p><p>“Wait! Is this the kid from the bank? Bill said he was a sweet kid,” Ginny exclaimed. “You know, the kid that came with the lady who all the goblins were bowing to!”</p><p>“Yeah, that lady was his sister, Sarah, she’ll be working at the Castle; but she’s a muggle,” Hermione explained.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, she said so herself.”</p><p>“Well I never seen goblins bow to wizards let alone revere muggles, 'Mione, but sure I’ll look out for the kid, I’ll see if I can find him when we exit the train.”</p><p>“Thanks, I just… I don’t know what game Malfoy is playing but I don’t want that kid hurt, he seems pretty sweet,” Hermione explained.</p><p>“I get it,” Ginny nodded.</p><p>“I think Ron might’ve scared him to Zabini, Ron was a prat,” Hermione huffed.</p><p>“He’s always a prat where Malfoy and company are involved, but I’ll keep an eye out for the kid.”</p><hr/><p>Until today, his summer had been utter, unmitigated HELL.</p><p>Potter wasn’t wrong, the Dark Lord had returned, and with him, his fanatical views. Draco’s entire summer had been training, non-stop training, he had been drilled by his father non-stop. His father was one of the best duelists to ever live in his generation, there was no denying that. Draco’s godfather had been ruthlessly drilling him in both legilimency; which he had always been an innate natural at because of his father’s bloodline, and occlumency; which he had also been an innate natural at because of his mother’s bloodline. Not to mention some of his father’s more prominent bloodline traits were making themselves known to him, and it was difficult to keep the world out now.</p><p>His mother’s bloodline traits were darker in nature, more sinister, and more latent. But his father’s veela heritage had been making itself known to Draco almost obsessively. He knew in time the Black family traits would become more prominent, still overt in comparison to the veela nature which was now at war with him.</p><p>The Dark Lord was working on ways to exploit his natures, his bloodline, and his inheriant traits in a manner which accelerated the magic beyond Draco’s control, and he had had a few slip ups over summer.</p><p>However, for some reason that Draco couldn’t explain, he couldn’t, not since the bank, and certainly not now walking into his compartment, those slip ups seemed in control around the Williams’. Since Lady Sarah Williams had walked into the bank with her brother in tow the power he felt, the wild out of control sensation, it had focused, lessened, he didn’t feel this insane need to run off on the first impulse and bite Granger or something. Which was bizarre enough on a bad day, but had become a new normal he ignored religiously. Still, around the Williams’ he felt in control, and compelled to protect them. Muggleborn or not, that kid and his sister were something special, and he didn’t know to what extent or why he felt the need to look out for them.</p><p>But he would take that distraction over obsessing over Granger.</p><p>Daphne gave him the same bewildered expression as Toby seemed to be explaining a high-speed muggle sport to Blaise which was played on ice. Idly he wondered if other wizards felt the same compulsion to look out for the kid, it was clear from Daphne’s ease with the kid that he couldn’t be the only one.</p><p>“Drake, muggles have a very fast sports on the ground that sound extremely fun and violent!” Blaise declared.</p><p>“Hockey is a lot of fun!” Toby grinned.</p><p>“Must be,” Draco conceded as he flopped onto his seat.</p><p>“Oh, and you bring to the table a mystery!” Blaise grinned at Toby who now bit his lip shyly.</p><p>“Ooooo! I love a proper mystery! How long has it been since we had a mystery on our hands?” Daphne giggled.</p><p>“Not since Second Year,” Draco admitted. The mystery of Slytherin’s heir and the Chamber of Secrets, though it wasn’t much of a mystery once the Slytherins had sorted out that it wasn’t one of them, but a lot of the research had gone into figuring out who the founders truly were; it wasn’t all what it appeared in the Wizarding Texts. Draco had come across some interesting texts in the Goblins and Elven histories; there were also some interesting myths regarding magic origins in general, from fae to changelings, and so on and so forth. The best thing he had found was references in muggle lore for the Unseelie and Seelie courts, which was an interesting concept. Ultimately though the research had gone in vain though because once it was revealed tied to the Dark Lord manipulating Weaslette that had further labeled his house as the epitome of evil.</p><p>“I need to figure out what the Master of the Castle is,” Toby stated then.</p><p>“Master of the Castle? You mean the headmaster, Dumbledore?” Daphne asked.</p><p>“No, I mean the Master of the Castle, he’s the one employing Sarah!” Toby grinned.</p><p>“I didn’t know Hogwarts had a Master of the Castle, oh this will be fun!” Daphne giggled in delight.</p><hr/><p>“Will you just trust me!?” Jareth snapped.</p><p>“Just admit it, we’re lost!” she retorted.</p><p>“I know the way to my own bloody castle, even if I don’t go to it often!” he growled. “And this lovely passage is the best direct route, to just outside the Castle!”</p><p>“Jareth we’ve been walking in the dark for an hour,” she snapped.</p><p>“I’m aware, can you get off my foot!” he seethed.</p><p>“Sorry, but just admit it, we’re lost!”</p><p>“We, precious thing, cannot get lost, a benefit of being lost in the first place and masters of the Labyrinth, we do not get lost, misplaced or forgotten.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“You did not think you just waltzed around knowing wherever you were going was the right way!” he protested loudly.</p><p>“I did, but that was because Irene was terrible at reading maps and Dad would never trust her with the navigation,” she explained.</p><p>“When we reach the outskirts of my Castle you will see, we are not lost!” he snapped.</p><p>“There is no shame in admitting we are lost!”</p><p>“We’re not lost!”</p><p>Suddenly it sounded like the tunnel they were walking was moving.</p><p>“And there is the delightful, infuriating Whomping Willow,” he muttered.</p><p>“The what now?”</p><p>“A very violent tree.”</p><p>“Why on earth!?”</p><p>“Well I couldn’t plant it in the Labyrinth, I already have too many of those and I wasn’t going to kill it!” he snapped. “I happen to be fond of them, they are delightful menaces to Runners.”</p><p>“I didn’t… I don’t want to know,” she decided suddenly.</p><p>“Quite right, now, here we are,” he declared as the crystal he had been using as a light disappeared and they walked out into the daylight. Sarah huffed a bit as he hoisted her out of the hole in the roots.</p><p>“So, we actually weren’t lost?” she asked in disbelief seeing the Castle.</p><p>“I am never lost!” he declared impishly. “Come now Sarah, we are to arrive in Hogsmeade on time.”</p><p>“I am not walking around with you looking like that, it’s bad enough the world demands wizarding robes, but I’m not walking with some sort of renegade pirate!”</p><p>“And you used to have fashion,” he mocked but waved his hand as a glamor settled on him. His mane of blonde hair was now short and windswept, there were odd streaks of color in it as well still, but nothing as outlandish as his normal main. Jareth looked suspiciously like David Bowie, but she wouldn’t bring that up. He was now also dressed in a three-piece suit, black and navy blue with a white shirt and white long coat, leather gloves still in place he materialized his own navy blue fedora as a crystal became a walking stick. “Wizard-y enough for you, precious thing?”</p><p>“It’s better,” she admitted as they started walking down the path. He offered his elbow and she accepted without hesitation this time. It was a bit amusing to her, the Goblin King escorting her to the train station. “So, who are you supposed to be in this world anyway? I never thought to ask before.”</p><p>“I am Jared King, a Curse Breaker from Gringotts, asked to escort the lovely Lady Sarah Williams and her brother, to ensure their safety, I believe all my credentials will check out,” he smiled wickedly.</p><p>“Uh-huh, and when was the last time you were Jared King?”</p><p>“Sometime in the Renaissance, I’ve updated my resume though,” he replied with a bite.</p><p>“The Renaissance? Do I even want to know how old you are?”</p><p>“You would never guess it,” he replied dryly.</p><p>The walk was rather amicable as he pointed out areas for her to investigate, she hadn’t had time to investigate it when she had first been here, mostly keeping Toby in the Castle for their explorations.</p><p>“That is what they call the Forbidden Forest,” he said.</p><p>“Is it dangerous?”</p><p>“No more dangerous than any other part of my Labyrinth, though I do believe many of the centaurs like to roam in those forests, and there’s giants further north, farther from the school. I believe there might even be a dragon or two in those woods, but I have not heard those reports for a while. Last year those wazzocks brought dragons here for a school competition!” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Were the dragons alright!?” she demanded.</p><p>“Upset, traumatized and surly, but nothing unprecedented; why these wizards would ever think it a wise idea to make dragons travel in cages is in dire need of new brains,” he stated firmly.</p><p>“They didn’t have to… you know, slay the dragons, right?” she asked.</p><p>“No, they have long since ceased that practice,” he admitted.</p><p>“Oh thank god,” she sighed.</p><p>“Dragons are not easy beasts to slay, you will lose more trying to slay it than you ever will befriending it, though few ever learn that. There is one parasite who has master that approach though, I’m rather fond of him.”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Newt Scamander,” Jareth answered.</p><p>“And this fondness wouldn’t lead you to…” she started.</p><p>“I do not bring people to the Underground, too much trouble. Though there’ve been a few mortals who’ve stumbled over it, like your author J.R.R. Tolkien, he was a delight, his works also kept our magic strong, though I suppose I have to thank Thranduil for that,” he admitted.</p><p>“Wait, Tolkien was… he went to the Underground!?”</p><p>“Yes, and yes, I have an Elf King in my kingdom named Thranduil who is in his own right a King, King of the Greenwood and he does have a son, Legolas, but there’s no ghastly creatures like Orcs in our world. That was a work of Tolkien’s own imagination. Rather talented writer too, my people love <em>The</em> <em>Hobbit</em> immensely,” he admitted.</p><p>“Who else did you have wander into the Labyrinth?”</p><p>“Many creative sorts, none magical usually, an occasional wizard whom we drive mad before they can become a threat,” he explained.</p><p>“Neat,” she responded.</p><p>“As the people who stumble upon my Labyrinth are not Runners we are obliged to lead them back out, rarely do they stay,” he explained.</p><p>“I see, that’s very generous of you.”</p><p>“I told you I could be most generous, Sarah-mine,” he offered.</p><p>“Yeah, I also have seen you at your most cruel,” she quipped.</p><p>“That is the Black Lake,” he pointed. “Please be wary near the water’s edge, my more watery subjects might accidentally drown you.”</p><p>“You mean mermaids!?”</p><p>“And selkies, and grindellows, and kelpies, and I think there’s a squid there that they affectionally named Bubbles,” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“What about the Loch Ness Monster?”</p><p>“Nessie resides very happily in my Labyrinth, bloody useless beast,” he growled in distaste. She laughed loudly as her head fell back and she hung onto Jareth to keep her upright.</p><p>“Here we are, Hogsmeade,” he gestured.</p><p>“I don’t see the charm to be frank,” she admitted.</p><p>“No one said wizards were progressive,” he offered as they started walking through, she wondered if it was her or Jareth who were garnering so many curious gazes. “Relax love, they’ve never seen cruel beauty at its finest.”</p><p>“Me or you?”</p><p>“Both, precious thing, both,” he chuckled in good humor as he walked her to a train station platform.</p><p>“Who are you’s?” a voice bellowed. Sarah turned to see the largest man she had ever witness, a massive, bushy haired fellow who peered down at her curiously.</p><p>“Sarah Williams, I’m employed by the Master of the Castle,” she offered up with a smile.</p><p>“Oh, you’re the new lady all the fuss is about,” he chuckled. “Rubeus Hagrid,” he offered. “Grounds Keeper and Keeper of Keys of Hogwarts!”</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” she offered as she shook his massive hand.</p><p>“Who’s your friend?”</p><p>“Jared King, Head Curse Breaker of Gringotts,” he offered dismissively which had her elbowing him in the ribs. His eyes narrowed on her as he loomed. “I’m here on behalf of Sarah’s employer’s desire for her and Mister Williams safety.”</p><p>“Oh, here they come!” she tugged on Jareth’s arm.</p><p>“I see that,” he snapped as he pulled his arm out of her grasp.</p><p>“I’m worried!”</p><p>“Toby will be fine!” Jareth reminded her.</p><p>“I’m allowed to worry after this summer,” she reminded him.</p><p>He grimaced. Sarah smiled as she started looking through the throng of students. Most were dressed in their black robes, greens, blues, reds, and yellows lined the robes as the students disembarked. Biting her lip she finally found Toby surrounded by older throng of teens wearing black and green robes.</p><p>“SARAH!” Toby ran towards her hugging her tightly.</p><p>“So how was the ride?” she asked as she pulled back running her fingers through his hair.</p><p>“It was great, this is Blaise and Daphne,” he pointed at the girl and darker boy looming behind him.</p><p>“Pleasure to meet you,” she greeted. “I hope he wasn’t trouble?”</p><p>“He was fantastic, we’re going to have more talks about hockey, baseball and quidditch,” Blaise declared.</p><p>“FIRST YEARS THIS WAY!” the big burly man shouted.</p><p>Toby tensed as he hugged her waist tighter.</p><p>“It’s alright Tobes, I’ll see you at the Feast,” she promised.</p><p>“You promise?”</p><p>“She will be there,” Jareth’s voice purred behind her which had everyone looking at her.</p><p>“Come on, I’ll take you there. We’ll see you at the Feast,” Daphne offered.</p><p>“I’ll see you there,” she promised.</p><p>“We’ll keep an eye on him, Miss Williams,” Draco offered as they moved. Toby moved into a group of small children who were nervous and dressed in black robes.</p><p>“Let’s go,” Jareth murmured. “It’ll be easier to meet him there.”</p><p>“Alright,” she agreed as they started walking through the village.</p><hr/><p>Sarah was a bit impressed with the Great Hall; she hadn’t had time before to appreciate it but now she was stunned at the display of a clear starry night above them with candles floating about.</p><p>“I’m surprised they left that,” he muttered.</p><p>“What?” she whispered.</p><p>“My nephew, as a present for his wife enchanted the ceiling to reflect the stars,” he explained.</p><p>“That’s sweet, why the stars though?” she asked.</p><p>“It reflects many different skies, but Helga, during her first pregnancy, as a mortal was confined to the Castle, she enjoyed the skies though, and since my nephew could not take her to the skies, he brought it to her,” he explained.</p><p>“Why was she confined to the Castle!?” she sputtered.</p><p>“<strong><em>Exceedingly</em></strong> <strong><em>Difficult</em></strong> for my kind to have offspring!” he hissed through gritted teeth. “Also, she was mortal, there was no magic in her to protect herself or the child within her at the time, and those days were far darker and more unpredictable. Magic and non-magic were are war with each other over anything and everything, the politics were more bloody and to be a pregnant female in those days did not ensure the safety of a person, it was just a different kind of trouble then. It was safer for Helga to remain here, she was not thrilled about it,” he admitted.</p><p>“Did you have something to do with that?”</p><p>“No, but for a non-magical woman she had a lot of power over what this Castle did and did not do. Unlike you Sarah-mine, she never was so brazen as to declare herself equal to a fae.”</p><p>“I was going to win, no matter the cost,” she reminded him.</p><p>“Then I’ll remind you that my agreeing to return Tobias was exclusive to him, never to you, I can reclaim you anytime I so please,” he smiled.</p><p>“You have no power over me,” she retorted.</p><p>“Pity,” he sighed.</p><p>Sarah noticed that the older students were noticing them as they walked through the halls. “They’re staring,” she whispered.</p><p>“They’re children,” he murmured back. “They are naturally inclined to be curious, though the children here…” he paused.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That imbecilic fool at the head table has divided his house, these four houses that the founders created were never meant to divide the students,” he murmured.</p><p>“Then why are there four houses?”</p><p>“Because they specialize in different aspects of magic. At the time grouping children with similar inclinations and magical impulses was easier for teaching rather than generalizing, now though they believe everyone is good at everything, horrid methods for teaching magic which is about the soul.”</p><p>“How do you know this?”</p><p>“I… feel… it?” he explained, uncertainly. “Fae attuned to children and their woes, we are drawn to purity; power, innocence, emotional highs, and magic, children tend to possess the purest of purities with all those, which is why my kind are so enamored with your kinds youth,” he murmured. “We’re also enamored with the adults but in different ways, the adults are stronger in emotions like passion, lust, living; children don’t possess those emotions,” he explained softly.</p><p>“They shouldn’t,” she hissed.</p><p>“Agreed, children and adults should be different,” he agreed. “Adolescents are a muddled mix of both, which is why I was so drawn to you, precious thing.”</p><p>“Ah, good to see that now that isn’t the case,” she chuckled as they walked up the stairs.</p><p>“Oh, Sarah-mine you have no idea what I feel anymore,” he purred. Before she could interrogate him about that however, there was a rustling of robes as they neared the head table.</p><p>“Ah, Miss Williams,” the headmaster moved to greet her.</p><p>“It’s <strong>Lady</strong> Sarah Williams,” Jareth cut off Dumbledore leaving every teacher dumbfounded. “And where is the Lady to be seated?”</p><p>“I was not expecting you to come, Mister King,” Dumbledore greeted with his grandfatherly cheer in place. His façade of a doting, cheerful grandfather grated Sarah’s nerves most violently.</p><p>“I am escorting Lady Williams at behest of the Master of the Castle, she is such a precious thing after all,” he explained rather dismissively.</p><p>“Hogwarts has no Master of the Castle,” Dumbledore started.</p><p>“I would disagree or else my lovely associate would not be permitted on the grounds, after all it is by our employer’s grace that your school operates at all,” he stated firmly.</p><p>Sarah looked between the fae and the wizard then at the other members of faculty. There was a rather toadlike woman dressed in odious pink, her toadlike eyes narrowed on Sarah and Jareth rather intently.</p><p>There was a high pitch cough from the toad.</p><p>“Hogwarts is a school which has operated for over a thousand years and never has there been this Master of the Castle until now,” Dumbledore started.</p><p>Another delicate cough.</p><p>“And as you are an omnipotent being I suppose you know all?” Jareth retorted.</p><p>Another cough.</p><p>“Jared this isn’t the place,” Sarah hissed firmly as the students were staring openly now.</p><p>Another cough.</p><p>“Now is the best time,” he retorted.</p><p>Another cough.</p><p>“You presume much,” Dumbledore started.</p><p>Another cough.</p><p>“What!?” Jareth turned on the woman and Sarah tightened her grasp on the fae before he lost his patience. “Do you have lint in your throat or ears?”</p><p>The toad looked affronted for having the full brunt of Jareth’s attention.</p><p>“<strong><em>DON’T!</em></strong>” Sarah growled.</p><p>The teachers seemed both startled and amused.</p><p>“The Ministry of Magic…” the toad started in a sickly sweet alto voice.</p><p>“Lady Sarah Williams does not work for your fascist Ministry and should you interrupt me again I will turn you into a true toad,” Jareth spat out.</p><p>Sarah groaned as her head fell on his shoulder. “Can you for five minutes NOT create a scene!?”</p><p>“No, I cannot,” he retorted. “You should know me well enough to know that by now.”</p><p>“How dare you!” the toad finally stuttered out dramatically as she stood, her short height made the gesture unimpressive, her beady eyes glaring.</p><p>“Do not bog that woman!” Sarah growled lowly.</p><p>“I don’t think my bog deserves that punishment,” he blandly countered, as the tiny woman came around the table. It was now that Jareth and Sarah got the full assault of the pink dressed toad which came towards them.</p><p>“The Minister of Magic himself has sent me to this school!” she started.</p><p>“Bloody wonderful for you, now if you don’t mind, go back to your swamp or sewer or wherever they found you because this is not involving your fascist Ministry of Magic,” he retorted.</p><p>“You dare!” the toad hissed.</p><p>“I dare,” Jareth snapped.</p><p>“DON’T!” Sarah grabbed his staff before he could do anything. “Don’t! My employer will be pissed if you blast a member of the staff, Jared. And if you do that, I will be furious with you and never speak to you again.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t.”</p><p>“My will is as great as yours,” she reminded him tartly.</p><p>He glared at her, and for a moment she saw his true gaze, the lopsided, wild blue eyes which reminded her she was dealing with a fae.</p><p>“Apparently we have not gotten the best first impressions of the other, Miss Williams,” Dumbledore started.</p><p>“<strong><em>Lady</em></strong> Williams,” Jareth cut off furiously as he tore his gaze from her to glare at the headmaster. “She is <strong><em>Lady</em></strong> Sarah Williams, and you will address her as such, any term less will displease our employer and result in his closing the Castle from your school,” he stated firmly.</p><p>“Lady Williams, it appears we have gotten off to a wrong start,” Dumbledore offered diplomatically. “I would be pleased for you and Mister King to join us for the proceedings this evening.”</p><p>“We would be delighted,” Sarah agreed as she watched two seats be materialized between the chair to the right of what was clearly Dumbledore’s seat, and Professor Snape. “Come on Jared,” she growled as she pulled his arm.</p><p>“Look what they did to my Castle,” he grumbled.</p><p>“Just, endure tonight for me and Toby then you can go home, we’ll have our chess game as needed,” Sarah offered.</p><p>“I need wine,” he grumbled.</p><p>“You might not want to have your usual sort,” she reminded him before he could materialize a goblet.</p><p>“This is worse than dealing with my father’s court, at least my mother’s has some entertainment,” he grumbled.</p><p>“You don’t have to be here,” she reminded him. “I’m a big girl, all grown up and wearing my big girl shoes Jaret—<strong><em>d</em></strong>,” she stumbled.</p><p>He pulled out a seat for her, gestured for her to sit when she stood there a bit stunned. Once seated Jareth sat in his own seat, sprawled like he was on his throne as he looked over the crowd of children.</p><p>“Can you not sit like a normal person?” she sighed tiredly.</p><p>“Love, I am comfortable, have some wine,” he ordered nudging her goblet at her now.</p><p>“For five minutes can you not behave?” she demanded taking his goblet from him.</p><p>“You know me,” he shrugged as he took back the goblet.</p><p>“Sadly, our employer would not be pleased.”</p><p>“On the contrary, he’d be most amused, we’ve gotten a long these past months too well, it wouldn’t do for us to get along all the time,” he smiled.</p><p>“You’ve reminded me. Now please, don’t ruin tonight for Toby’s sake.”</p><p>“I wouldn’t,” he promised her solemnly. “You have my word.”</p><p>“Good, now behave,” she ordered as she handed back his goblet.</p><p>“How do you and Mister King know each other?” Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“We work for the same employer,” Jareth answered for her. “I have known Lady Williams for a long time.”</p><p>“Jared is one of my oldest friends,” she relented. “One could say I’ve known him all my life,” she admitted.</p><p>The toad was fuming in her seat.</p><p>Sarah relented when Jareth nudged a goblet in front of her, she took a deep gulp when the doors were thrown open then and she perked up looking at the herd of black robed kids walking into the room.</p><hr/><p>Toby had been sitting with a girl name Rose and a boisterous boy named Euan for the duration of the trip, which had been a boat ride over the lake. He had been a bit awed, despite having lived in the castle for a month, seeing it in the setting sun, under the stars. It was so beautiful! He followed his classmates up through the castle, listening to Professor McGonagall’s brief history.</p><p>The walk into the Great Hall was startling as he stared up at the night sky, but he was more stunned to see his sister seated to the right of Jared King. They seemed to be having a heated discussion. He spotted Draco, Blaise and Daphne who smiled at him as he walked by, Hermione Granger also smiled when he walked by her table, though her redheaded friend glowered at her, as did the mysterious green eyed, black hair boy. Toby waved shyly at Sarah who was grinning broadly now as she waved at him, her blond companion was smiling into his cup as his mismatched eyes seemed to light up.</p><p>“Will you wait along here, please,” the professor instructed. “Before we begin, Professor Dumbledore would like to say some things.”</p><p>Toby snickered into his hand when Sarah gave him a dramatic eye roll and slumped back into her seat, Jared seemed too amused almost choking on his drink.</p><p>“We have two changes in staffing this year, we are pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly Plank who will be taking over Care of Magical Creatures, we wish to welcome our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Dolores Umbridge. I’m sure, you’ll all wish me in wishing the Professor, good luck.</p><p>“In addition to that, the Master of the Castle has seen fit to employ a new Keeper of the Library,” Dumbledore stated.</p><p>“Lady Sarah Williams,” he gestured, and Sarah sat up a bit startled which had Toby sticking his tongue out at his sister for her immature behavior earlier. Sarah crossed her eyes and pulled a face for him. She feigned innocence when Dumbledore turned to look at her which had all of them; and all the other students bursting into laughter.</p><p>“She’s weird,” Rose whispered between giggles.</p><p>“She’s my sister,” he replied to the other girl.</p><p>“Really!?” Rose blinked.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>Sarah had the good grace to get up and give everyone a small smile before a graceful curtsey, her companion was up and getting her seat for her. Her actions seemed to have drained a lot of the tension in the room.</p><p>There was a pert, high pitch cough from the pink lady that had been introduced as Dumbledore continued to talk. Toby frowned at this professor’s rudeness.</p><p>She coughed again as she got up with her pink handbag, Toby looked over to where he heard Hermione whispering with the green-eyed boy and the redhead.</p><p>Professor Umbridge got up as she seemed to have silenced them all before, she walked around the table. Jared pulled a face which had Sarah swatting his shoulder hard. The blond glared at her, she said something, he retorted then Sarah grabbed his arm as if to restrain him. She gave Toby a broad smile though, while Jared glared, looking a bit like the devil about something.</p><p>“Thank you, headmaster, for those kind words of welcome. And how lovely to see all your bright happy faces smiling up at me. I’m sure we’re all going to be very good friends,” Professor Umbridge declared with a smiled rather creepily as she clasped her pudgy hands.</p><p>“That’s likely,” came a sarcastic drawl somewhere behind him; he turned because it was in perfect unison. Farther down the table with kids dressed in red and gold there were two identical redheaded boys who looked bored.</p><p>“The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. Although each headmaster has brought something new to this historic school, progress for the sake of progress must be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what can be perfected, and prune practices that ought to be prohibited,” she giggled shrilly and as if it were good nature.</p><p>Toby looked at his sister who just sat there with the most dumbfounded look alongside Jared, as the professor walked back to her seat. Jared made the loony motion by his temple and pulled a face; Sarah grabbed a goblet as if to hide her laughter while there was a resounding laugh from everyone in the hall. Toby bit his lip but kept snickering and smiling as Sarah made a mockery of the toad lady and then smirked.</p><p>Jared said something to his sister, who was in a fit of giggles; the other professors around seemed to be having a difficult time keeping themselves composed as well.</p><p>“Thank you, Professor Umbridge, that really was illuminating,” Dumbledore started. “Now I would like to remind you that magic is prohibited from the corridors as well, we do not want more duels. There has been a dueling club assembled by the Head Boys and Head Girls of each house though, interested students my sign up. Now we shall begin the sorting, and then the feast!”</p><p>“Now, when I call your name, you will come forth, I shall place the Sorting Hat on your head, and you will be sorted into your houses. Abercrombie, Euan,” Professor McGonagall called out. As she lifted the dusty hat on the stool.</p><p>The boisterous boy he had sat with walked forward with confidence. Toby watched as the Hat was placed on the boy’s head and watched as a wrinkly looking face; like a Muppet’s puppet then came to life and shouted out:</p><p>“GRYFFINDOR!”</p><p>Cheers exploded from the table beside him with the green and gold kids.</p><p>This went on for about forty kids before they finally got down to him and Rose, both of them were nervously looking around.</p><p>“Williams, Tobias,” McGonagall called out and gave him a kind smile. Biting his lip, he nervously made his way forward. Sarah smiled encouragingly as he moved toward the stool, his heart was pounding violently and loudly in his ears. Sitting he looked around when the hat was put on his head.</p><p>‘Hmm…. Very curious, very curious, been so long, I almost didn’t recognize my Master’s magic.’ A voice purred in his mind and startled him to look up. ‘It has been so long…’</p><p>Your master? He thought in bewilderment.</p><p>‘The true Master of this Castle, you, boy, have been touched by the faeries, curious, very curious… I see a loyal heart, unwavering in devotion, but oh how difficult your affects are to win, no fickle being I see here… cunning and wit, a desire to win at whatever the cost, but there’s a boldness, a humility here too, you are not the best… A curious mind, but then so many touched by the faeries are curious… this is curious… your sister inspires your curiosity, your questing soul, I wonder if she were touched by the faeries too…been so long… You are muggle, but you are not anymore, only the purest of magic for a mortal to wield… Untapped potential, untapped greatness, so many young paradoxes within you; why look at your wand, a hawthorn wand with a phoenix feather; you are destined for true greatness, greatness found in the Books of Old… oh I look forward to these times now, far more interesting than the boy who lived, true magic has touched you child… unorthodox and unique, oh yes, I know where to put you, you have friends there, but you will change them and they you… the twenty-eight will desire you no matter what but I’d best put you with the purest and strongest of your kind… Tell no one about the faeries boy, for your own sake and safety, which leaves only one place to put you for safety…’</p><p>“<strong><em><span class="u">SLYTHERIN!</span></em></strong>”</p><p>There was a stunned silence over the hall, Sarah though was clapping and smiling.</p><p>The green and silver table started cheering as the hat was pulled from his head. He smiled at McGonagall who gave him a tight smile before he hurried over to Sarah who offered him a high five before he ran to his table. Blaise waved him over and he grinned as he found himself seated between Blaise and Draco again.</p><p>“That was the longest stall ever,” Daphne stated. “Welcome to Slytherin Toby!”</p><p>“I knew this kid was a snake!” Blaise declared. “You’re totally teaching us hockey,” he warned.</p><p>“Deal!” Toby smiled as Draco ruffled his hair.</p><p>“HUFFLEPUFF!” the hat bellowed on Rose before she ran for the yellow and black table.</p><hr/><p>Jareth leaned over to her. “I’m glad to see my nephew’s house gain a Williams, seems befitting.”</p><p>“Why is that?” Sarah asked him as she settled in her seat while McGonagall said a few things to the new students.</p><p>“Because you, love, if you were to be sorted, had to have been a fae in another life, only fitting that Toby be one too,” he murmured before he sat up.</p><p>“I’m just me, Jareth, I won’t be sorted or conformed for anyone,” she whispered back as they clapped at the last girl being sorted. Sarah offered a broad smile to the girl who blushed but smiled shyly back. “Why was everyone so upset about the Slytherin kids?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“Foolish parasite,” he muttered and glared pointedly past her.</p><p>“You’re going to explain that over a game of chess,” she pointed out.</p><p>“Of course, it will be wonderful to have a proper opponent again,” he smiled his smile of all teeth.</p><p>“I’m going to crush you, like a bug,” she warned seriously.</p><p>“Not if I destroy you, precious thing.”</p><p>“Try it,” she challenged. “I’m going to go congratulate Toby,” she said as she moved to get up. Jareth was up though and pulling out her seat for her. “Seriously, the manners are starting to freak me out, Jared,” she stated as she accepted his hand and they walked around the confused teachers.</p><p>“Love, I have a reputation to maintain!” he promised.</p><p>“Of debauchery and tormenting teenage girls, maybe,” she grumbled.</p><p>“I could always drop you in the bog,” he offered.</p><p>“And that sounds more like you,” she nodded.</p><p>“Foolish mortal girl,” he muttered.</p><p>“Very foolish, I’m friends with my arch nemesis, I must be a fool.”</p><p>“That’ll make me a fool as well, and that simply won’t do, precious thing.”</p><p>“Why not? We could be fools together, we can wear the goofy hats and bells too, look like Looney Tune escapees!” she offered.</p><p>“Go congratulate your brother!” he nudged her towards the group.</p><p>“Hey Toby!” she smiled.</p><p>“SARAH!” He leapt off his bench and threw his arms around her waist again. She chuckled as she hugged him tight. “I’m in Slytherin now,” he informed her.</p><p>“So, I see, that’s pretty cool, Tobes,” she chuckled. “Let me see these robe now,” she stepped back and saw his black robes now in seamed with green while his tie and sweater colors had changed to greens and slivers. “Very fetching!”</p><p>“Why’s he here?” Toby asked as Jareth looked over the hall with mild interest. She knew it was his fae nature examining these children.</p><p>“Because your sister is a dear friend of mine,” Jareth offered stepping forward then.</p><p>“Are you dating her?” Toby asked suspiciously.</p><p>“NO!” Sarah shouted, “Gods you’re sounding like Irene!”</p><p>“It’s an innocent inquiry, love, no harm in asking. As your sister said we are not, and I am here because I was instructed to escort her by our employer,” he offered with an easy-going smirk. Sarah glared her warning at him, he merely gave her a feign of innocence before turning his attention onto Toby.</p><p>“You know the Master of the Castle!?” Toby perked up.</p><p>“Very well,” Jareth offered.</p><p>“What is he?”</p><p>“I believe your sister has ordered you to figure it out,” Jareth stated.</p><p>“But if you tell me then I can tell her I did and not,” Toby pointed out.</p><p>“And deprive you of this learning opportunity; I think not,” Jareth snorted in amusement.</p><p>“It was worth a shot,” Toby grumbled.</p><p>“Nice try. I’m going to go to bed, I’ll see you tomorrow at breakfast,” Sarah promised as she tapped her brother’s nose.</p><p>“I’ll escort you to your room, Lady Williams,” Jareth offered smoothly as he held out his elbow.</p><p>“I’m going to bed, alone,” she reminded him as she took the offered elbow and walked with him.</p><p>“Such a cruel Lady,” he sighed.</p><p>“Damn straight,” she declared.</p><hr/><p>Hermione was biting her lip hard to keep from laughing at Lady Sarah’s antics with her blond companion. The woman had seemed perfectly at ease about making a mockery of herself, for which Hermione envied her, but then the woman had retained all her dignity and grace like a queen when she moved and decided to be serious. The blond with Sarah had seemed egged on by her antics, yet not, he seemed to egg on Sarah like she did for him, like they were old friends. She had noticed the immediate awe and worship on Fred and George’s faces at Lady Sarah’s antics.</p><p>“Kid must be a powerful kind of evil,” Ron grumbled.</p><p>“He’s a kid!” Ginny snapped.</p><p>“Who had us in a hat stall for thirty minutes before being declared for Slytherin!” Harry snapped.</p><p>“Oh please, Toby is a perfectly nice young boy,” Hermione snapped which had Ron and Harry looking at her like she had grown a fourth head. “If anything, Slytherin is lucky to have him, he was a charming delight to talk to when I met him. And his sister was interesting. Did you know they’re muggles!”</p><p>“No way a muggle got sorted into Slytherin, it would never happen,” Ron stated. “No wonder the Ministry would be here, if that kid is in Slytherin we’re all doomed.”</p><p>“Ronald, that is overly dramatic.”</p><p>“But he’s not wrong, Hermione! All the Slytherins are a rotten apple,” Harry stated. “Look at Malfoy or Zabini!”</p><p>“If you think an eleven year old is the embodiment of evil Harry then I think Lord Voldemort is made of roses and sunshine,” she countered as she slammed her tome shut and stood. “I’ll meet the Head Boy and Girl when the feast is over, I’m not going to listen to your ridiculous nonsense!”</p><p>Stalking away from her seat she went for the library but stopped when she saw Lady Sarah walking with her mystery friend.</p><p>“It won’t work,” Sarah stated.</p><p>“Yes, it will, I say this will work, there will be a door, right there, and it will take us to your quarters,” the blond declared.</p><p>“That’s cheating,” she started.</p><p>“Nonsense, you’ll never get lost, but if you think it, it will appear for you, precious thing, and there’s the door, come along,” he said.</p><p>“That was cheating! I didn’t mind the walk!”</p><p>“I did, hurry up, I want that game!” he ordered.</p><p>“You’re so demanding!”</p><p>“King!”</p><p>“I’m never making hot cocoa for you again,” she grumbled.</p><p>“Mopsy…” he started as the door slammed shut behind him and disappeared. Hermione stood there dumbfounded at what she had just witnessed.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah’s day started off at the crack of dawn when Mopsy appeared with a stack of papers and a very large mug of coffee.</p><p>“Majesty ordered me’s to look over your requests,” the elf said as she ushered Sarah out of her warm bed. Sarah accepted the coffee as she pulled her hair into a messy bun and started reading over the papers, they were various types of fax machines, circled the best one for her work because it also had a telephone before handing it to Mopsy. Then she circled the best type of phone she could think to need for her work, with those two things settled she put the papers down.</p><p>“Any idea what his majesty did with my typewriter?” she asked with a yawn as she poured a bit more creamer in her coffee. Mopsy made the best coffee she had found in the great UK, and for that she would worship the house elf.</p><p>“Yes, Lady, King has set aside your solar, asks me to design it best!”</p><p>“My suite?”</p><p>“Yes, Lady, yous Lady of the Castle, yous be needin’ a solar of your own,” Mopsy explained. “King has instructed yours be near his.”</p><p>“I see,” she hummed.</p><p>“Mopsy will bring colors by soon for yous to go over,” Mopsy promised.</p><p>“Take your time Mopsy, this room is lovely,” she promised as there was a breakfast tray placed before her.</p><p>“King says you need to eat,” Mopsy said.</p><p>“Do you only do what the King orders?” she asked as she leaned back. “And please, join me, Mopsy.”</p><p>“Mopsy…! Mopsy shan’t!” the elf looked so befuddled, confounded and startled that Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“I would like the company, Mopsy. I didn’t have time before, but I would like to know you,” she assured the elf.</p><p>“But… yous Lady of the Castle, it isn’t proper!” the elf whispered.</p><p>“I’m an American, Mopsy, I thrive on impropriety,” she chuckled. “Please, I would like to eat breakfast with you,” she gestured to the other winged seat across from her.</p><p>“Lady…”</p><p>“I insist, there’ll be no punishment for this,” she promised.</p><p>“Oh, well… King says we must please Lady,” Mopsy started to reason.</p><p>“This would please me greatly,” she assured the elf.</p><p>“Very well, Lady,” the elf nodded as she snapped her fingers, a battered little stool appeared with a meager meal on it.</p><p>“I would like to eat with you as a friend Mopsy,” Sarah stated getting up taking the stool. “Please sit in the chair, and take some of my breakfast, I won’t be able to finish all this.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>“I insist,” Sarah smiled. The elf was shy about sitting down beside her, and Sarah gave her a nice heaping of eggs and toast.</p><p>“Oh, thank you, Lady!” the elf grinned.</p><p>“Do they not feed you more than a slice of toast?” Sarah asked as she settled to eat her own meal.</p><p>“They treat us as well as they know how,” she admitted.</p><p>“That’s pitiful,” Sarah stated. “I will speak to Jareth about improving that.”</p><p>“Oh, you are too generous, Lady,” Mopsy announced with reverence. Sarah hid her unease about such a declaration, instead she munched on her toast. After that she interrogated Mopsy about the Castle and what her duties would be, Mopsy was all too excited to fill her in on what was going on.</p><p>It was after she finished her breakfast that she prepared for her day. Dressing in a pair of skinny jeans, her favored leather boots, and then a pale blue sweater she felt ready as she could be. Habit had her stuffing a pen and pad of paper in her back pocket before she walked out of the room. It didn’t take her long to find the main area of the castle, which had her blinking as students swarmed about. A few stopped to give her strange, sleepy looks as they stumbled with their friends into the Great Hall, she chuckled seeing the massive spread laid out for the students.</p><p>A lanky redhead appeared before her, startling her a bit.</p><p>“Hi, Ginny Weasley,” the girl offered.</p><p>“Sarah Williams,” she chuckled.</p><p>“You looking for something?” Ginny asked her.</p><p>“Just getting a lay of the land, I do need to go to the library though,” she said.</p><p>“Oh, this way,” the girl grinned. “Your Tobias’ sister?”</p><p>“Yes,” she said.</p><p>“I’ve never heard of a muggleborn going into Slytherin,” she said.</p><p>“Well, if the hat works how my employer said then you’re sorted to where your magic is best suited, clearly Toby’s magic would be best for Slytherin,” Sarah said.</p><p>“That’s… huh, I never knew that,” Ginny admitted.</p><p>“I’m thinking there’s a lot lost here,” Sarah mused blandly.</p><p>“How would you know?” Ginny asked her rather curious than defensive.</p><p>“My employer is really good at knowing things, he’s rather infuriating that way.”</p><p>“The guy you were with last night?”</p><p>“In a manner of speaking, Jared though was working for our employer last night,” she said.</p><p>“Huh,” she nodded.</p><p>“So, which house is the red and gold one?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“Gryffindor! My whole family is in Gryffindor,” she explained.</p><p>“That’s amazing!” Sarah chuckled. “So, can you trace your family line all through the house?”</p><p>“Yeah, though as the sacred twenty-eight we can all trace our family houses, and for the most part we stay in those houses,” Ginny explained. “Like Weasleys and Prewetts are always in Gryffindor, Malfoys and Notts in Slytherin, that sort of thing.”</p><p>“Well then, perhaps its because your family lines excel at a particular kind of magic,” Sarah offered the girl.</p><p>“Mum says it’s because some families are evil, others aren’t.”</p><p>“That’s a broad generalization,” Sarah cut off. “And no eleven year old or child for that matter, because that’s what you lot are, can be evil unless they have a chemical deficiency or a mental problem. To declare a particular child evil just because they go to a particular house is more likely to isolate them to the path society deems for them.”</p><p>“I…” Ginny started.</p><p>“Gin!” the bushy haired girl appeared. “Harry and Ron were looking for you, something about Quidditch try outs,” the girl said. “Hi, we met at Flourish &amp; Blotts, Hermione,” she smiled.</p><p>“A pleasure to see you again, Miss Granger,” Sarah admitted as suddenly she remembered the last name. “I was just on my way to the library with Miss Weasley.”</p><p>“Oh, I’ll join you, I have Ancient Runes,” Hermione stated.</p><p>“Yeah, come on!” Ginny chuckled. “So, you don’t think Slytherin is evil, despite everything everyone has said?” Ginny turned to her.</p><p>“I don’t know what everyone has said, but Toby seemed excited about it, and he’s made some nice friends in the house already.”</p><p>“Every evil wizard has come from Slytherin though.”</p><p>“That’s rather broad, it’s like saying every German is an SS officer or something as else as broad sweeping as that,” Sarah shrugged. “People can be morally right but ethically wrong, or morally wrong but ethically correct, it is tricky. Slytherin might have produced an evil wizard or two but that doesn’t mean it only turns out evil wizards, I’m certain if you dig into other houses, you’ll find evil wizards there too.”</p><p>“You sound so sure,” Hermione said.</p><p>“It took a very life altering event for me to understand that the world is not black and white like you think, it’s many different colors and shades of grey, is this the library?” Sarah asked as they came to a massive room with so many shelves and floating books. Sarah smiled as a few papers fluttered by shaped as birds. “Beautiful,” she murmured.</p><p>There was a pert cough behind her which had Sarah turning.</p><p>“Thank you, Miss Weasley, Miss Grangers, but I think I can handle myself from here,” she said to the girls who were eyeing the ostentatiously pink professor. “Go to class,” she encouraged as she folded her arms and watched the girls go.</p><p>“Miss Williams…” Umbridge started.</p><p>“I believe it is Lady Williams,” she stated firmly feeling the Labyrinth ripple around her, she could almost hear the walls moving, the magic flowing as it seemed to wrap around her protectively. “How can I help you, Professor Umbridge?”</p><p>“<strong><em>Miss</em></strong> Williams, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, has sent me to clean up the incompetence Hogwarts is finding itself with in. As such, I have the authority to make any inquiries about the staff of Hogwarts as I see fit,” she started.</p><p>“Then it’s a very good thing I’m not employed by the school,” Sarah cut off. “My position was secured by an outside party, the Master of this Castle. As a result, I believe you find you have no power over me,” Sarah stated.</p><p>“I believe you will find that not to be true,” she tutted.</p><p>“I am an American citizen, muggle or not, that does not make me British, ergo you have no authority on my person. I am not employed by your government or your school, ergo my employment is not under your authority.”</p><p>“I am an official of the Ministry and I have power over you, Miss Williams!” she shrieked. “You will submit to a full inquisition of my mandate!”</p><p>“I will not as I am not employed by the school, nor by your government and last I checked this was not an autocratic society,” Sarah stated firmly. “I am not under your authority and if you should attempt to subject me to your inquisition or rule, I will call upon my employer to eliminate this problem.”</p><p>“You have no right!” Umbridge started.</p><p>“I have every right!” Sarah shut her off. “I am a sentient being not under your control, attempt to force your will on me and it will backfire most spectacularly.”</p><p>“You are nothing, but a muggle and you do not belong!” She shrieked as he pulled her wand. “I will do what Dumbledore should’ve done to begin with! Obliviate!”</p><p>The spell shot out, Sarah twisted to protect herself only to hear it smashing into the ceiling as dust and rocks clattered around her. Standing there for a second she looked around then at the stunned woman as she pulled herself up to her full height to loom over the toad.</p><p>“You dare to to attack an unarmed person!?” Sarah snarled as she felt the goblins appear, and the Labyrinth groan beneath her feet.</p><p>“I…” She started.</p><p>“Silence!” Sarah snarled as the woman’s voice seemed to be lost and her mouth slammed shut. “If I ever find out you attacked another person it will be last thing you ever do, muggle or not I can and I will make your life an eternal hell of nightmares that will be unspeakable of. Are we clear?” Sarah snapped.</p><p>“Who… what have you done?” Umbridge stammered out.</p><p>Sarah’s eyes narrowed. “I simply am reminding you of your place.” Turning on her heel she stalked into library, noticing the confounded students in her wake.</p><p>“Ah, precious thing,” Jareth greeted her as he was lounging with his feet up on a desk.</p><p>“Is this my desk?” she asked.</p><p>“It should be,” he smiled.</p><p>“Mmm, feet off the desk,” she swatted his legs.</p><p>“Now, let me see what spell she attempted to put on you, precious,” he muttered getting up. Sarah didn’t know what Jareth saw but suddenly he was pulling something off her person. “Keep an eye on her,” he warned.</p><p>“Why? What did she…?” Sarah started.</p><p>“Sarah-mine, I cannot stay, I merely felt you creating another ruckus, I have to go attend to business elsewhere, just keep an eye on her, keep her from the children.”</p><p>“She’s a professor, Jareth!” She hissed.</p><p>“Yes, she is, all the more reason the children need you, precious,” he declared. “Anyone willing to utilize this sort of magic should not be trusted with the care or education of young ones.”</p><p>With that he was gone in a cloud of glitter.</p><p>“I’m going to de-glitterfy you, rockstar-wannabe,” she muttered as she tried to pat off the glitter. Shaking her head, she sat down and noted that Jareth’s bold script was scrawled over an envelope which had her sighing as she settled back to read it. She was being paid to be here, though why she didn’t know.</p><p>“You are Lady Williams?” a severe looking woman who reminded Sarah of a vulture announced with a level, soft voice.</p><p>“Yes,” she answered.</p><p>“I am Madame Pince, it appears we are to work together,” the woman sniffed in disdain which had Sarah smiling as she put Jareth’s not aside and stood.</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” she offered in a quiet tone. “I think this is a beautiful library, you must be very proud.”</p><p>“I… I am, thank you,” the woman seemed befuddled.</p><p>“I will aid you however needed, I know our jobs won’t always correlate, but I will look to you for guidance,” she offered.</p><p>“That is all I ask,” the woman said. “The children will be a nuisance but do not let them sneak food into this library, there will be horrid chocolate stains on the pages if you are not careful. The restricted section requires professor notes and confirmation from the professor, as well as supervision when they are there. Library opens at five in the morning, on the dot, and will close at nine in the evening,” Pince said.</p><p>“Of course, I’ll ask questions as we go,” she promised.</p><p>“Very well,” Pince said and walked off.</p><hr/><p>He knew he should be worried about Sarah, but her casual use of the right words had him relaxing and watching her threaten and cut down the professor who had attempted to attack her. Secure in the knowledge that his Lady was safe he had left her and returned to the Underground to look over the accounts of the old battle.</p><p>Long before Romans and Christians had invaded his homeland, he looked further back to when the Magic was strongest, to before he had separated the realms and worlds.</p><p>There was a time when his kind did not reside in myth and legend, he remembered it well. Unlike his parents though he had never dwelled upon the change in status or kingdom, his kingdom was every growing and expanding regardless of being Above or Underground. People believed in him, his kind, his world, so his magic remained true and strong. His parents relied too much on the world remaining black and white, light and dark, to really have expanding kingdoms. Jareth walked into his library, flicking his wrist as the heavy tomes came to arrange themselves on the tables, the accounts of Sluagh, Balor, his ancestors Bodach and Cailleach; here he hoped to find some clue, some hint as to what had evaded him.</p><p>He did not think that there was a piece of that ancient evil Above, but then he couldn’t be sure, his brother was in pieces after all. And an important piece of his brother was missing.</p><p>Jareth remembered when his nephew had gone to the Above to look for the missing peice. Instead, his nephew had adopted the name Slytherin, not Salazar but Slytherin, and met a very loud, Welsh mortal who’s delicate golden appearance was offset by her boisterous, pushy, loud personality. Jareth always thought of Helga with fondness, after all she was the one to give him the name he used now, the name mortals knew.</p><p>Helga wasn’t like his Sarah. Helga, at fifteen was a boisterous, lively woman, she was rather optimistic and comely too, while also being rather generous and gracious. Helga had offset many of his nephew’s Unseelie traits, she could bely his nephew’s darker, more nefarious impulses though she matched his nephew in trickery, playful intent, and wits. Not an ounce of magic in the mortal, though she was loyal and determined, Jareth had admired her greatly, for a mortal. Though, unlike his Sarah, Helga was merciful and gentle. Jareth groaned; he had not thought about his nephew or Helga in centuries, he hadn’t dwelt upon them in his thoughts when he had been running his kingdom.</p><p>Few mortals ever made impressions upon him, Helga though, she had been certain to leave an impression. He had adored her as if she were his own child, he had adored her children, he remembered how devastated he was at her death, and more devastated at his nephew’s death. So much had been happening at the times he had been almost beside himself he could not locate their children, it had taken considerable willpower for him not to deteriorate and to lose himself in his grief for the loss of his brother, his nephew, Helga, and the children.</p><p>Jareth would admit that Sarah Williams had been a shock to his system because he had found his equilibrium, he had found his precarious balance after centuries of struggling. Then that mortal had crashed into his life; he knew his nephew and Helga would’ve laughed at his dilemmas regarding Sarah. King of Dreams, enchanted by a mere slip of a girl’s, a mortal girl’s, dreams… Sarah had enslaved him to her will with the vibrancy with which she believed in magic. Few believed as Sarah did, even now that she was an adult and living in the center of Magic, few believed as she did. To Sarah it was all real; the myths, the legends, the rumors, the whispers, it was all real to her, the curses, the gods, the blessings, she could see it too because she believed so purely. She was much more magical than many of the parasites or residual magic wielders Above.</p><p>He had been ensnared, enchanted, enslaved, entrapped by Sarah Williams well before she had wished her brother to him.</p><p>Admittedly giving into her wishes and whims, to let himself be cast in a role such as her villain might not have been the best way to go about trying to bewitch her, but it had been fun. He wondered if she knew just what she meant to him, his kingdom, and just how deeply her will had bound itself to the magic he wielded.</p><p>Jareth slammed the tome he was reading shut and rubbed his eyes.</p><p>He would have to go to the Seelie and Unseelie Courts, he would have to personally check that his brother’s body pieces were where his parents said; and he didn’t trust Oberon or Morgan any farther than he could throw them.</p><p>If his brother were where they said he was, that would eliminate the probable, and no matter how impossible the improbable remaining would probably be the actual result. He just hoped to all the worlds and all the realms that he was wrong.</p><p>If someone had found his brother’s missing piece and the evil contained within his brother, he didn’t know if they would survive that reckoning. Not when the world had barely survived the first.</p><p>He would have to speak with Sarah, arrange for her to see her traitorous friends, but he would have to set it up in the Forbidden Forest; perhaps he would speak to Thranduil about that guardianship. Afterall, the Greenwood was a rare part of the Labyrinth which went both Above and Underground, it’s connection to surround his Above Castle was legendary. Sighing he got up to go make the arrangements then he would have to go to Oberon’s court first. If he went to his mother’s second, he would have access to her stores of ale and every force in the universe knew he was going to need that after dealing with his father.</p><hr/><p>Hermione walked with Ginny after Sarah had just berated Umbridge who looked livid, while Sarah Williams had walked away.</p><p>“I’ve never seen a muggle do that,” Ginny whispered.</p><p>“I don’t think Lady Williams is a normal muggle,” Hermione admitted. “I’ll see you later Gin, I have Ancient Runes,” she said as she walked out of the Castle. Susan, Malfoy, Nott, Greengrass, Padma, Anthony, Terry were all meandering towards Ancient Runes which was held in the ancient stones near the Forbidden Forest. Hermione was the only Gryffindor in the class, as most of her housemates found it boring.</p><p>Malfoy, Nott and Greengrass seemed to be in a heated discussion, over what she didn’t know as she fell into step with her Ravenclaw friends; Anthony Goldstien and Padma Patil.</p><p>“I wonder what that’s all about,” Hermione whispered.</p><p>“It’s about that new kid in Slytherin, you know, the one that had the hat stall,” Padma explained.</p><p>“Toby?”</p><p>“Yeah, I heard Nott call the Toby kid a… you know, and Greengrass and Malfoy have been all over him for that,” Anthony explained.</p><p>“Which is ironic because they have no problem calling everyone who is a muggleborn a mudblood without discrimination,” Hermione snorted.</p><p>“He’s a Slytherin now which means he’s one of ours, Granger,” a voice snapped which had her eyes flicking up to a furious looking Malfoy with an equally irate Greengrass at his side. “And unlike you lot we don’t hurt our own for kicks.”</p><p>With that Greengrass, Nott and Malfoy stalked away without looking back, Hermione bit her lip as she followed. She had never seen the Slytherin kids disagree about anything when she thought about it, they were always a united front. Even the odd man out, like Nott, they would leap to his defense when he was singled out by other kids.</p><p>“Ignore the snakes, they’d take any chance to pick on our first years,” Padma hissed.</p><p>Hermione sighed as they made it to the Ancient Runes teaching area. Professor Bathsheda Babbling was waiting.</p><p>“So, for this year we will be looking at Nordic runes, the differences of the Irish and Scottish Gaelic alphabet, all of this will lead to the ancient rituals which follow the Wheel of the Year, holidays like Samhain, Yule, Ostara, and Beltane, this year we will be looking over the translation of these rituals into modern wizardry,” she started. “For this year I will be pairing you off.</p><p>“Bone and Goldstein. Boot and Greengrass. Granger and Malfoy. Hopkins and Turpin. Nott and Patil. You will be paired all year, so I suggest you get accustomed to working together,” Babbling said.</p><p>Hermione looked over at the three Slytherins who looked stricken at the thought of being separated, but they talked quietly amongst themselves before they went to their partners. Hermione was surprised when Malfoy let her settle them in the North East area of the stone circle. He sat beside her, his jaw clenched, and he looked forward, she glared at him from the corner of her eye as she arranged her supplies.</p><p>“How’s Toby settling in?” Hermione asked as Babbling started handing out the year’s syllabus.</p><p>“You have an unusual interest in one of my housemates Granger,” he stressed.</p><p>“He was nice, and he’s a muggleborn, I know what a shock it is to be dumped into the Wizarding World and just expected to pick it up.”</p><p>“He’s fine. Settling in fine.”</p><p>“He was nice,” she said.</p><p>“He’s very nice, not was,” Malfoy hissed furiously.</p><p>“He’s in Slytherin now, I suspect you lot will teach him all sort of underhanded curses and jinxes before the weeks’ out.”</p><p>“We’ll only teach him what is needed to defend himself, and him being in Slytherin doesn’t change who he is, just how your miserable lot perceive him,” Malfoy sneered.</p><p>Hermione blinked rapidly. “Considering your love of blood purity,” she started.</p><p>“Actually, do your research, Granger, understand the insults before you condemn us for our views,” he hissed.</p><p>“I have partnered you based skills, birthdays, and your sex; this year because you are all fifteen or about to be, this is a special time in any magical being’s life, it’s your coming-of-age year, this is when we study the correlation between Ancient Runes and other ancient cultural rituals. In ancient times, girls of fifteen would be wed, boys were considered men, in some cultures this was the greatest trial was to be held, a test between childhood and adulthood.</p><p>“One famous legend of such a trial was held by a figure known as the Goblin King, who would have made challengers run an impossible maze. According to lore found in many ancient ruins his maze was unbeatable, which leads us to think that the use of this particular myth is merely that, a myth, that young coming of age children would have different trials. However, the Goblin King was a prominent figure in many legends, from child snatching to sacrificial virgins. Now as we’ve come to understand the virgins is not in terms of sexually active, per say, but in terms of blood used for magic, which will bring us to the runes the ancients utilized, because most of them were written in blood and cast through other rituals. It is understanding the runes within the ruins which will aid us in understanding how this magic has continued to stand, even well before Hogwarts foundation,” Babbling started.</p><p>“As a result, we will also be having cross over classes with your Astronomy class to have a further understanding in the ancient ways and how they interpreted astronomy and how it affected the runes we have found in ruins, and how it continues to affect the casting of runes now. There will also be in depth studies of ancient muggle cultures, predominantly the Vikings, the Celtics, Arthurian lore this year; at the time magic was practiced openly in these cultures creating a base for runes for us to use. We will also be looking at other figures in mythic history, such as the Goblin King, Morgan la Fey, Aoife, the ljósálfar, hvítálfar, dökkálfar, and svartálfar, all famous, magical mythological beings holding reverence in myth history as well as a base for our ancient runes that we currently implement.”</p><p>Hermione started taking notes then as she listened intently.</p><p>“Who’s the Goblin King?” she whispered to Malfoy.</p><p>“No idea,” he admitted as they took notes in silence.</p><p>Hermione made a mental note to go to the library to investigate the Goblin King more extensively. She found it strange that she was just now learning about this mythical figure.</p><hr/><p>Toby shuffled through his day keeping his head down for the most part. Blaise, Daphne, or Draco had been meeting him and the other first year Slytherins after their classes. That was the odd thing about the Slytherin older kids, they seemed intent on surrounding the younger ones, he thought it strange since he had heard the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor kids say they felt lost. Now he was sitting in the Great Hall again for lunch, he wanted Sarah to chat with, but he shrunk at the idea when he saw a large redhead boy glaring at him as well as the kid with a lightning bolt for a scar. Why they were glaring at him was beyond him.</p><p>“And I’m telling you I’ve never heard of half the stuff she was babbling on about, though It sounds like a lot of research.” Draco’s voice said, which had Toby perking up as the blond walked in with Daphne and a different boy, who looked rather sickly or weak.</p><p>“’Ello Toby,” Daphne announced as she gracefully slipped to sit on the bench. “How’s your first day of classes?”</p><p>“Daph, I’m going to talk to the other kids,” Draco said as he pulled the other boy with him.</p><p>“Charms is interesting,” he said. “Professor Flitwick looks like the goblins at Gringotts, I was going to ask Sarah about that. And History is taught by a ghost, which would be cool if he wasn’t so boring.”</p><p>“Yeah, Professor Binns is a cunt,” Daphne chuckled as she served herself what looked like a meat pie. “You making friends with your housemates?”</p><p>“They seem… uneasy about me,” he admitted as he glanced down at the other kids who were all having fun.</p><p>“Don’t limit yourself to our house, you made friendly with that Hufflepuff,” she pointed out.</p><p>“Rose and I were partnered in Charms,” he admitted shyly.</p><p>“See, you’ll make friends, and our house… we’re not used to the unexpected. But you’re one of us now so we’ll be watching out for you,” she offered with a wink.</p><p>“What were you and Draco talking about?”</p><p>“Ancient Ruins, it’s an elective for us, so we spent all morning on it, with partners,” she sighed. “We were talking about ancient lore and it’s correlation between the runes we’re studying. Because we’re mostly in the UK we’ll focus our studies on the Nordic and Celtic runes, as well as a touch on some Arthurian lord, because that’ll be tied to old lore and ancient rituals, which is all Ancient Runes is about. But specifically, we were talking about some of the mythical figures our Professor was talking about.”</p><p>“Like who?”</p><p>“Oh… Goblin King, Morgan la Fey, the elves, the fae, and dwarves,” she answered.</p><p>His fork clattered from his fingers as he stared up at her.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Sorry, I just remembered something! I need to go talk to Sarah!” he said as he scrambled up.</p><p>“Well slow down,” Daphne called as she struggled to get up.</p><p>“I got him Daph,” Draco’s voice came, and a hand caught his bag before it fell. “What’s the rush?”</p><p>“I need Sarah,” he answered.</p><p>“I’ll walk you,” Draco said. “It isn’t wise to be a lone Slytherin walking the halls until you’re a bit bigger.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Cause most the other houses don’t like our house, come on, this way to the library,” Draco explained as they walked.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They think we’re evil,” he answered.</p><p>“Are we?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” he admitted. “But I know you’re not evil, you’re a kid,” he stated.</p><p>“Oh,” he nodded.</p><p>“You want to tell me what spooked you?” Draco said.</p><p>“I don’t know, I want Sarah,” he said as they walked.</p><p>“I get that, we’ll get to the library,” he explained. “Hang on, the stairs move.”</p><p>“Why do they do that?”</p><p>“No one really knows, I’d guess it was a battle strategy to confuse the enemy and move troops through the castle with ease,” he explained.</p><p>“How do you know that?”</p><p>“We own a castle, my father taught me all about ancient medieval battle tactics, in those days they would place stairs on a certain side for better sword fighting advantage,” he explained.</p><p>“Cool, but I thought you were wizards, why would you need swords?”</p><p>“Old days, I have no clue, but it was interesting times,” Draco offered as they continued through the Castle. It didn’t take them long before he saw the massive library doors, Sarah was walking out.</p><p>“SARAH!” he shouted.</p><p>“Toby!?” she stopped as he ran forward to hug her. “What’s this about?” she asked.</p><p>“I just wanted to see you,” he mumbled as he hid against her side then.</p><p>“Well, I’m here, I was just going to go eat lunch and watch some of the students flying,” she said. “Would you two gentlemen like to join me, Mopsy will be joining me as well.”</p><p>“Is Mopsy the house elf your employer mentioned?”</p><p>“Yes, she is,” Sarah chuckled. “Would you like to join me, Mister Malfoy.”</p><p>“I’d be delighted, it’d also give me a chance to right the errors of Blaise’s quidditch teachings,” he smiled.</p><p>“I’m assuming quidditch is the sport for wizards,” she said as she walked.</p><p>“Yes, it is, and I’m a Seeker!” he grinned.</p><hr/><p>Sarah watched as Toby walked off with his Prefect when she saw the massive barn owl fly overhead, she rolled her eyes when the wings grazed her hair before she turned to follow the feather brained fae. The grounds were massive, she continued meandering down the hill as she followed Jareth. Passing the massive stones, she paused to study them, they felt alive like the Labyrinth. There was a loud warbling screech above her which had her looking up at Jareth who’s large black eyes stared down balefully at her.</p><p>“What?” she demanded with a shrug. He took off.</p><p>“I’m coming, hold your feathers,” she grumbled before she continued following him. Jogging after Jareth who flew faster, she reached the forest and looked around for him again.</p><p>“You should be more cautious about following creatures into the forest,” he called down.</p><p>“Get down here feathers before I throttle you,” she warned without turning around. He landed, wearing his feathered cloak and rather tamed clothing for him.</p><p>“Promises, promises, darling, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” he purred as his riding crop twirled in his fingers.</p><p>“We’re never getting there,” she rolled her eyes. “So what do you want?” she asked.</p><p>“I will be gone, I will see you for Samhain, but until then I thought you would desire access to your miscreant friends,” he explained as he offered her his elbow again. Rolling her eyes, she took the offered elbow before they started walking.</p><p>“You celebrate Samhain?”</p><p>“Yes, very fun occasion, only day the veil truly lifts, the goblins love the candy,” he smiled. “But my father’s court holds a celebration with my mother’s on Mabon, about the time when the harvests are celebrated and rare day of perfect balance between night and day, when Seelie and Unseelie are of equal power, it’s the best time to talk to them both without have to attend both their courts.”</p><p>“You really hate court that much?”</p><p>“My father doesn’t serve wine and my mother’s court is always in chaos and it takes <strong><em>years</em></strong> just to get an audience,” he rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Mmm, must be torture,” she cooed pitifully for him.</p><p>“Sarah-mine, do not mock what pains I have with my parents.”</p><p>“Fine,” she chuckled. “After all the woes my mother put Toby and I through I’ll leave you in peace over it,” she decided.</p><p>“Thank you, it’s most appreciated,” he replied sardonically.</p><p>“Do you mind telling me about why Hoggle isn’t allowed in the Castle?” she decided as she switched the topic.</p><p>“Your beloved Hoggle decided to bring the parasites to the Underground. At the time I was having a meeting with my mother, the wizard who attacked her was known as Merlin. Camelot’s King, King Arthur, had declared war on the Underground, well, specifically my mother, she had fulfilled a wish of sorts resulting in Queen Guinevere and Knight Lancelot’s affair, I will not delve into it, but Merlin brought an invasion force into my Kingdom, and with my mother being my mother, she reacted…. Poorly,” he shrugged.</p><p>“Who’s your mother?”</p><p>“Currently she’s adopted the name Morgan la Fey,” he answered.</p><p>“<em>The</em> Morgan la Fey?” she asked.</p><p>“She was always fond of the Welsh, loved being romanticized as a villain,” he answered. “It’s the current name she’s adopted, it’s the one which invokes her power.”</p><p>“Mmm, does she do the… child stealing, and harassing teenagers?” she asked.</p><p>“Depends on her mood, position of the moon, time of the year, convergence of the planets and stars, she’s rather unpredictable in interacting with mortals,” he answered far to gravely and seriously for her to take it as a jest.</p><p>“This explains so much about you,” she snorted as she tried to choke back her laugh.</p><p>“Better to take after my mother than my father,” he retorted.</p><p>“And who’s your father?”</p><p>“He’s fond of the Shakespearean name, Oberon,” he answered with distaste.</p><p>“Oberon, King of the Fairies?”</p><p>“We’re ancient beings Sarah, we’ve adopted many names and personas as cultures have changed; but I have remained Jareth since Helga and her children gave me the name,” he explained.</p><p>“So you don’t…?”</p><p>“Until you gave me the title Owl King, I had not acquired new identities or needed to,” he answered honestly.</p><p>“You’re really adopting that name?” she asked.</p><p>“I like it,” he preened. “Though you are much more delectable than a mere peach, precious.”</p><p>“Whatever it is you want I’m not giving it,” she warned.</p><p>He laughed. “It wouldn’t do for you to be easy, would it now, love? Life’s more interesting when there’s a chase happening,” he chuckled. Jareth looked around then, glancing at the area they were in, the rock outcrops, old scorch marks, and smooth glassy rocks were a shock to her. “Here is good,” he decided.</p><p>Sarah looked around when he materialized an orb to throw it at the rocks. The magic rippled then there was a blur of brown coming at her.</p><p>“SAWAH!” Ludo bellowed as he caught her in a tight hug then, swinging her around.</p><p>“Ludo!” she laughed.</p><p>“A fair day for a reunion with our fair lady, Lady Sarah!” Sir Didymus declared as he appeared riding his loyal steed Ambrosius.</p><p>“Sir Didymus,” she curtsied for him before rushing over to hug the old fox terrier.</p><p>“What’s the rat doing here?” Hoggle barked.</p><p>“Reminding you of your place you little traitor,” Jareth snarled. “You are confined to this clearing and this one alone, should witch or wizard see or encounter you Hoggle it will be your head on a pike.</p><p>“Sarah, your friends are confined to this clearing, and this clearing only, do not think to wander off with them through this forest, and keep visits to this area sporadic, it wouldn’t do to have an Abover notice you or your friends’ comings and goings. Should you need to go to the Underground immediately this mirror rock will provide you with a secret path which will take you to the Greenwood, speak to Thranduil when you arrive and inform him you are the Lady of the Labyrinth. I will see you at Samhain, until then, sweet dreams precious thing,” he informed her with a bit of a bow before he disappeared in a burst of glitter.</p><p>“Always the showoff,” Hoggle sneered.</p><p>“Oh, it’s so good to see you,” she said as she fell to the ground as she hugged her dwarven friend before everything she had been holding back by sheer will and priority broke free as the first sob tore through her.</p><p>“Sarah, what’s wrong?” Hoggle asked her as she now sat in the clearing sobbing desperately. Sir Didymus produced a handkerchief for her, but she couldn’t seem to stop her sobs yet.</p><p>“Better out than in,” her dwarf friend said as he patted her back. Ludo was humming a soothing melody, and Sir Didymus seemed at a complete loss for aiding her.</p><hr/><p>Hermione sat outside by the lake with Ron and Harry.</p><p>“Wonder what sort of evil that Lady Sarah and her brother are,” Harry muttered.</p><p>“She’s actually very polite, and nice,” Hermione said as they watched the woman following the owl disappear into the woods.</p><p>“Bill said the same thing, goblins love her,” Ron shrugged as he took a massive bite of his sandwich.</p><p>“Her brother got sorted into Slytherin!” Harry retorted.</p><p>“So? Toby’s a sweet kid,” Hermione pointed out as she looked over her Ancient Runes materials.</p><p>“He can’t be, he’s in Slytherin.” Ron was adamant about that which had her rolling her eyes as she glared at him.</p><p>“I don’t think he’s evil, he’s eleven,” she stated.</p><p>“But we don’t know, there’s never been a good Slytherin,” Harry pointed out.</p><p>“Merlin!” she groaned. “The greatest wizard ever was from Slytherin! Merlin, he’s so famous muggles even know him!”</p><p>“One good wizard doesn’t make the house good,” Ron pointed out.</p><p>“Merlin’s beard you guys are thick,” she stated.</p><p>“And anyone the goblin’s like can’t be good!” Harry insisted.</p><p>“Bill says they’re greedy, shifty little beasts,” Ron agreed. “He wouldn’t trust a goblin beyond counting gold, the lot of them are self-serving and mischievous.”</p><p>“That doesn’t make Sarah Williams and her brother evil!” Hermione insisted.</p><p>“No, but it makes them suspicious, we should keep an eye on them,” Harry decided.</p><p>“I want to know how a yankee has the title Lady,” Ron admitted.</p><p>“Now that would be worth knowing,” Hermione agreed. “From my understanding very few families in the sacred twenty-eight were given titles, and even then, those titles weren’t given by the muggle courts.”</p><p>“Well, that has a bit of a legend to it. My uncle Ignatius said it was back before the founders, the sacred twenty-eight families served a King of sorts, you know, before Christianity and muggles taking over through their church,” he said. “Just a myth though, no actual records about a Wizarding King.”</p><p>“I’ve never heard of it,” Hermione admitted.</p><p>“That’s cause it’s just a myth, ‘Mione,” Ron dismissed as he chewed his sandwich. “Wizards never had a King, the founders of Hogwarts are the first recorded formal uniting of wizards anywhere in Europe,” he explained.</p><p>“Fascinating,” she smiled. She would dig into this, deeply.</p><p>“It’s just a stupid myth, like Merlin working for that muggle king,” Ron shrugged.</p><p>“Well, muggles have legends of Merlin and King Arthur, there’s a whole sect of muggles who study that legend and deeply revere it’s history.”</p><p>“Muggles study Merlin?” Ron asked in disbelief.</p><p>“Yes, it’s a popular legend for us,” she explained.</p><p>“Huh, didn’t think muggles would like magic given how horrid they were to us,” he shrugged.</p><p>Hermione bit her tongue then because she had never had extensive studies in the persecution of witches and wizards by muggles. Places like Scotland and Ireland were so steeped in magical beliefs on their own, it was different though. She remembered once on holiday with her parents when they had traveled to Edinburgh she had been surprised at how much the Scottish believed in magic, not in the ways she practiced or learned, but the belief the Scots had held…</p><p>“It’s different,” she shrugged. “Different perspectives of history,” she pointed out.</p><p>“Look, I don’t care about Merlin, or Wizarding Kings,” Harry interrupted. “That Sarah Williams is up to something, her brother is evil!”</p><p>“Harry, he’s eleven!”</p><p>“He’s evil! He’s in Slytherin,” he insisted. Hermione rolled her eyes as she slammed her book shut and left them. She walked towards the forest as soon as she knew she was out of the boys’ line of sight, which had her walking carefully after Sarah. The forest was a place she knew well enough to get a general sense of where Sarah Williams would’ve gone. The sounds of sobbing caught her attention after a bit, which she carefully followed. Picking her way through the trees and shrubbery she saw Sarah Williams walking towards her, wiping her face.</p><p>“Lady Williams!” Hermione exclaimed.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I didn’t know anyone else was here,” Sarah blinked rapidly as she finished wiping away the evidence of her tears. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“I’m… I’m here because I was curious what you were doing,” she admitted. Sarah frowned as she shoved her hands in her back pockets and set her jaw. The way the young woman’s green eyes narrowed was dangerous, Hermione saw that Sarah was annoyed and probably furious.</p><p>“Well let me put your curiosity to bed, Miss Granger, I am walking alone in a beautiful forest. And that is all you need to know,” Sarah stated rather harshly.</p><p>“I don’t mean to intrude…” Hermione started.</p><p>“But you are,” Sarah stated firmly. “And it is an intrusion which is not welcomed, Miss Granger.”</p><p>“I… I thought you could…” she started uncertainly then bit her lip. Sarah didn’t lose her composure or temper though despite her rather harsh demeanor about being caught crying.</p><p>“Your kindness is appreciated but unwelcomed,” Sarah stated. “I have to go back to work, and you need to go to your classes.”</p><p>“What exactly is your work?” Hermione asked walking with the young woman.</p><p>“I am a novelist and a keeper of the library,” she answered.</p><p>“So, what work do you have to do?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Are you always this nosy?”</p><p>“I’m curious!” Hermione defended.</p><p>“Be wary of where your curiosity will lead you, Miss Granger,” Sarah advised as they walked.</p><p>“I find it leads me to doing what’s right,” Hermione stated haughtily.</p><p>“Of that I have no doubt,” Sarah muttered.</p><p>“Why are you here?” she asked again.</p><p>“I was hired to be here,” she answered. “Miss Granger, the terms of my employment are between me and my employer, they are not for you to worry about.”</p><p>“I’m not worried,” she retorted. “I’m curious, Hogwarts has never hired a muggle, and everyone’s made it a point to notice that you are a muggle, and your brother is a muggleborn sorted into a house which only cares about blood supremacy.”</p><p>There was a loud sigh as Sarah stopped to turn on her with clear eyes. “You have a broad mind, Miss Granger, but a very narrow view on how the world operates,” Sarah stated.</p><p>Hermione gaped as Sarah walked off and towards the castle. She didn’t know what to say or think to what Sarah had stated. The gall of that woman, it was… Hermione wondered now why Sarah Williams would say it.</p><p>Unsure if she should be offended or upset Hermione followed at a distance after the woman and went for her next class of the day.</p><hr/><p>Sarah had walked into Hogwarts with her head held high and her shoulders back, until she saw Bam-Bam and Little Toby gleefully bouncing down the hall which had her groaning as she walked after the goblins. It didn’t take her long to find the object they were tormenting; a mean looking cat, with red eyes that was bigger than them. The feline snarled and yowled as it chased them with long claws while the goblins cackled.</p><p>“And what do you two think you’re doing?” she demanded coming to loom over them as she put her hands on her hips to glare at the pair of trouble making goblins.</p><p>“LADY! We’s founds you!” they shouted with glee as they smiled.</p><p>“So it would seem,” she answered tersely. “What are you two doing?”</p><p>“Mean kitty was chasing Master Toby we chase it instead!” Bam-Bam informed her.</p><p>“Leave the cat alone!” she hissed as she pulled one of them onto her shoulder and Little Toby vanished in the way goblins would.</p><p>Shaking her head, she walked through the hall while Bam-Bam snuggled in her hair near the nape of her neck.</p><p>“Kingy says we to watch you, Lady!”</p><p>“Is that so?”</p><p>“And Big Toby!”</p><p>“Well, I appreciate the look out,” she chuckled.</p><p>“No ones will see us, just Lady!” Bam-Bam informed her.</p><p>“Ah, so the usual, I will look crazy while talking to you while no one will see or hear you,” she mused.</p><p>“Lady not crazy!” Bam-Bam insisted, which had her biting back a laugh.</p><p>“Of course I’m not,” she agreed. Walking through the castle she felt the students’ curious gaze on her, but she ignored it as she hummed to herself while returning to the library. She would need to talk to Mopsy about getting a turn table, and some records, as well as a CD play with some CDs, she would want to look into what artists she would desire for that. David Bowie came to mind immediately, as did Clearance Clearwater, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Ella Fitzgeral, Louis Armstrong, Aerosmith, Bruce Springsteen, and Hootie and the Blowfish and such, she would need to recompile her collection of music. But the jazz would be her first hit up because she like working on her writing to jazz.</p><p>“You returned!?” Madame Pince observed with an air of disbelief.</p><p>“Well, I believe the terms of my employment are that I work in the library,” she answered.</p><p>“Muggles have poor worth ethics,” she snorted.</p><p>“And you must have a lot of experience with non magical people then,” Sarah dismissed with ease leaving a fuming Madame Pince in her wake as she went to her desk.</p><p>“Lady!” Mopsy squeaked.</p><p>“Hello Mopsy,” Sarah nodded to the house elf who seemed baffled at being caught here. “I was not expecting to see you until this evening.”</p><p>“I is sorry, Lady, Mopsy did not mean to intrude on Lady’s work…” the house elf started.</p><p>“You’re not intruding,” Sarah chuckled as she sat down, Bam-Bam leapt from her hair then with a cackle. Mopsy squeaked when the goblin bounced. “Behave,” she warned her goblin friend. “What brings you about, Mopsy?” Sarah asked good naturedly.</p><p>“I’s just came to clean Lady’s things, and organize, Kingy doesn’t like his workplace messy and I’s thought Lady mights be the same,” Mopsy explained.</p><p>“That is very thoughtful of you, Mopsy, but I’ll be keeping this desk rather orderly, it’s my work desk,” she explained with a smiled.</p><p>“Very well Lady, and I am also here to tell you that your solar was ready,” she said with a low bow.</p><p>“My solar, already?” she repeated.</p><p>“Yes, Kingy’s gots everything for yous Lady,” she explained.</p><p>“Huh, well… thank you,” she managed, a bit dumbstruck. She knew that there was a suite being prepared for her, but she hadn’t actually put much thought into it.</p><p>“Kingy wants his Lady as comfortable as possible,” Mopsy smiled broadly and again Sarah was dumbfounded.</p><p>“I see,” she managed. “I’ll see it after dinner Mopsy, thank you,” she said.</p><p>“Of course, Lady,” Mopsy disappeared with a loud clap which had Sarah staring at space. It hit her hard now all Jareth was doing for her, and it was unsettling, he had wormed his way into her life so casually and unintrusive, but rather commanding like still. She hadn’t thought about it when her dad and Irene had passed, she needed help, but now that she and Toby were settling, she was stunned by this realization.</p><p>Before her parents had passed, she would never dare to call upon Jareth or allow him entry in on her life she would sooner cut her tongue out than utter his name, his title, or the dreaded phrase ‘I wish’. He had been her adversary, her opponent in life, and in dreams while they had formed a friendship, she retained power because he could not do anything in a dream that she did not permit. But now… Christ, Sarah let her head fall back as the thought hit her in full; now Jareth was a friend. He was her person, a person she relied on, counted on, could call upon; like her grandparents, Hoggle, Ludo or Sir Didymus. The thought was rather daunting to her as she stared at the library.</p><p>“Lady?” Bam-Bam nudged her shoulder then. “Lady? You alright, Lady?”</p><p>“I’m fine,” she decided. “Just stunned.”</p><p>“Why?” the goblin asked her as his eyes stared at her with curiosity brimming.</p><p>“It just occurred to me, Kingy is a friend,” she admitted.</p><p>“Kingy always Lady friend! He’s told us so, says we watches you good because you his bestest friend!” Bam-Bam smiled then.</p><p>“Admittedly, our first encounter wasn’t our best first impressions, and dreams are lovely but not equal grounding for a friendship. I never thought he’d be a casual friend of mine in reality,” she revealed tiredly. “I’m friends with the King…” she muttered and rubbed her eyes. She would have to figure out what Jareth’s angle was later, after her life settled a bit.</p><p>“Kingy says Lady his friend!” Bam-Bam declared. “Lady of the Labyrinth, <strong><em>his</em></strong> Lady.”</p><p>Sarah frowned at that description but didn’t dwell on it because goblins had a tendency to simplify whatever it was Jareth said or whatever it was, they were expressing. Then again, Jareth was a fae, bastard probably meant something by whatever he was saying to the goblins.</p><p>“I need every book on the fae,” she muttered to herself, getting up to get it.</p><p>Three heavy books came flying to her desk, landing with heavy thumps which startled her.</p><p>“Labyrinth provides for its Lady, Lady,” Bam-Bam whispered as he leapt for her shoulder.</p><p>“Noted, is that going to happen more often?” she asked the goblin.</p><p>“Dunno,” he admitted as he burrowed into her hair.</p><p>“I’ll asked him later,” she muttered as she opened the book, pulling her pad and paper before she started taking notes.</p><p>There were few differences between the mortal descriptions of the fae and the wizarding descriptions. The fae were ethereal, otherworldly, waiflike; powerful magic, though wizards held arguments that the fae were mere myth because of the Fundamental Law of Magic which read: as a rule, the further somebody goes towards meddling in the deepest underlying laws of magic, the more drastic and terrible the consequences will be. This lead wizards to ‘debunking’ fae as real magical beings because the fae were immortal, godlike in magical ability, and unstoppable.</p><p>Sarah snorted at their debunking reasonings, mostly because she knew Jareth and Jareth just defied all laws of the natural world, she didn’t even think he knew what the laws of the natural world were.</p><p>Still, she made notes to study Magical Theory to gain a firmer grasp on the fae and just what she was to Jareth. The more information she had, the better chance she had of actually understanding Jareth beyond the information he volunteered.</p><p>Internally, she thought this would help her build up the next book for her character the Owl King.</p><hr/><p>There was a sharp rapping on his door which had him reluctantly looking up from his latest report to see Dumbledore at the door.</p><p>“May I come in Mr. Weasley?” the old headmaster asked.</p><p>“Uh… sure,” he blinked rapidly in surprise as he settled back in his chair and Dumbledore sat down.</p><p>“How are you settling into your new post?” Dumbledore asked as he seemed to be casting spells and shutting up the office.</p><p>“Fine,” he lied. He didn’t like being stuck in one spot, he hated working behind a desk, and he despised being trapped to an office, but for the greater good he would endure this because it was what was needed.</p><p>“How did your meeting with the professor go about that symbol?” Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“Like shite,” he snorted. “I obliviated her and ran,” he admitted. He wasn’t willing to expand upon why though, not for anyone because he had troubles wrapping his head around the idea of Lady Sarah Williams being Professor Evelyn O’Connell’s great-granddaughter. The two women seemed so different, and yet his mind was pointing out similar features they shared rather unhelpfully.</p><p>“I see, that is a pity. Have you spoken to the goblins?” Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“The ones I have spoken to are firm on remaining neutral,” he admitted reluctantly. He didn’t mention that the goblins seemed insulted whenever asked to join a side, either the Order or the Death Eaters. Bill had long since figured out that someone else pulled the goblins strings and held their loyalty; someone no one knew about and he couldn’t glean information on.</p><p>“I see,” Dumbledore pondered. “Have you heard of a Jared King, a Curse Breaker?”</p><p>“Yes, he’s a lead Curse Breaker, never in London though, and most the time his location is classified, goblins know who and where he is, but he’s never around. He was my previous boss, but I never actually met him. Why? What is it?” Bill asked as Dumbledore conjured some tea.</p><p>“I am worried about Miss Sarah Williams,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>“The lady who charmed the goblins?” he asked.</p><p>“The very same,” Dumbledore admitted. “Jared King was escorting her, saying they worked for the same employer. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to see her vault records.”</p><p>“I can’t do that,” Bill admitted.</p><p>“You have access to all of the Gringotts accounts, surely you can procure her financials.”</p><p>“No, I can’t,” he admitted. “Lady Sarah Williams is holder of vault 13.”</p><p>That had Dumbledore’s eyes going wide. The more ancient families had vaults in the late teens and early twenties. The Malfoys were vault 14, the Blacks were vault 17, his own family’s ancestral vaults were vault 28 and vault 39.</p><p>“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t access her vault,” Bill stated calmly. “Her vault isn’t just one of the most protected, and deepest in Gringotts, it will require ancient magical keys which none of the goblins will leave laying about, and it would require two goblin guards, as well as a sign in from the actual manager of the account who is no longer listed in our books and only a handful of goblins have clearance to work on.</p><p>“It’s not like vaults 1, 2, or 3, those are for currency, but vaults 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, they aren’t accessible by anyone anymore, their records are lost, until Miss Williams I didn’t even know vault 13 was operational, and all the goblins have made the records inaccessible. They are guarding it like dragons guarding a horde,” he explained.</p><p>“Who holds the other vaults?” Dumbledore asked.</p><p>“No idea,” Bill admitted. “They’re older than Gringotts itself,” he explained. “The goblins are immensely proud of this, but they don’t talk about the vaults after 3 and before 14, they won’t, and no one on the wizarding staff has clearance for that part of the vaults. If I even go near it, I will be lost or killed, the magic surrounding them is ancient and I am assured I cannot have access; ever, unless I’m invited, and I won’t be because according to the goblins; I’m a wizard and not to be trusted.”</p><p>“I need to know,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>“It’s actually impossible,” Bill reaffirmed. “I’m relatively certain only the bare minimum of records are available about that vault, and if there are real records about it then I don’t think the goblins keep them here.”</p><p>“Then we will just have to get the records from Miss Williams herself,” Dumbledore decided. “You will have to obtain the records from her,” Dumbledore stated.</p><p>“How? Seducing her?” Bill asked sarcastically. Then he started to pale when he saw how serious Dumbledore was. “Oh no, no, I am not seducing some poor bint for her vault records!”</p><p>“You are the same relative age, she is lonely, there are no peers for her to appeal to at Hogwarts, and she is but one muggle, it will not be that hard to slip her a love potion or charm her into giving you the information.”</p><p>“Are you insane!?” Bill hissed.</p><p>“I am not,” Dumbledore decided. “This is the job, we need the records, this is why we placed you in Gringotts.”</p><p>“To seduce a girl to appease your curiosity!?” he strangled out through gritted teeth.</p><p>“It is not my curiosity to appease,” Dumbledore stated.</p><p>“She’s just a muggle girl!”</p><p>“Who happens to have access to vault 13, be employed by a master of the castle no one has records of, and who’s muggleborn brother was sorted into Slytherin, I need to know where her allegiance lies,” he explained.</p><p>“And me seducing her reveals that?” he sneered.</p><p>“Not immediately but in time,” Dumbledore assured him. “You will do this, for the Order.”</p><p>“And how do you propose I start this? It’s not like I’ll casually stroll into Hogwarts anymore,” he snapped.</p><p>“Of course not, no, I suspect she will be going to explore Hogsmede soon enough, it will be easy enough to encounter her there,” he decided. “In fact, I will let the Upper Classmen start their journey next weekend and encourage Miss Williams to go to Hogsmede. It will do her some good to leave my castle from time to time,” Dumbledore stated.</p><p>“Merlin’s beard, you’re serious?” he muttered falling back in his seat.</p><p>“This is war, my dear boy, we must know what we are up against,” Dumbledore informed him.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She made it through the first week of Hogwarts and was rather impressed with how the school was run despite how few staff there were. The students were rather organized, the Four Prefects per house and two Heads of house per house. Toby and she started meeting up for breakfast at six in the morning, it was rather nice too. Toby’s friends: Draco, Daphne, and Blaise also joined, as well as the shy Hufflepuff girl, Rose Zeller joined them too in the morning.</p><p>Her work was rather simple, Madame Pince had most of the library in hand, so Sarah worked mostly on finding the ancient tomes that were clearly Jareth’s. She was actually impressed with the information she had found and the general condition of the tomes that he had possessed Above. They were interesting and in depth about all manner of beings, but never seemed to touch on the creatures in the Labyrinth, or at least the ones she had met.</p><p>Which brought her to this morning as she walked with Mopsy through the castle, sipping her coffee and reading over the reports that Jareth had sent her way about the Above. She was a bit curious about veelas, sprites, and the different breeds of elves which had intermingled with the humans, unlike the house elves though they were more human like in appearance, making her think of Jareth to be honest. Jareth’s reports back to her were responses to her inquiries through the week, he had just dumped it all in one report.</p><p>“Mopsy?”</p><p>“Yes, Lady?” the elf asked.</p><p>“Where is the King?” she asked as she pause at a passage, narrowing as she read it over a few times.</p><p>“He is preparing Mabon, ‘tis the first time the Labyrinth will host it!” she preened.</p><p>“He’s hosting it?” Sarah blinked.</p><p>“Yes, Lady, he felt it neutral ground for both his parents,” she explained.</p><p>“Huh,” she nodded. “What exactly will happen on Mabon?” Sarah asked the elf as she folded up Jareth’s report and shoved it in her back pocket.</p><p>“We will be celebrating the autumnal equinox for a week, it is a celebration for the equal day and equal night, as well as the harvest and the thanks for summer’s passing,” she said eagerly.</p><p>“So it’ll be a big party?”</p><p>“Yes, Lady, big party, Kingy will be very busy preparing and cleaning up,” she said solemnly.</p><p>“Must be a lot of work,” Sarah agreed. “The Labyrinth has never hosted it before?”</p><p>“No Lady, never before,” Mopsy nodded as they walked. Sarah offered Mopsy a hand to hoist the little elf up on the wall. “Thank you, Lady,” Mopsy chuckled.</p><p>“No problem,” she assured her tiny companion. “Why doesn’t the Labyrinth host Mabon?”</p><p>“The Runners,” she said with wide eyes. “Runners take priority, Kingy feels too many celebrations in Labyrinth would jeopardize Runners,” she explained.</p><p>“I see,” Sarah nodded.</p><p>“Also, Mabon new party, Kingy doesn’t like new traditions,” she explained.</p><p>“I can’t see him taking time to pass up a party,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Kingy likes people happy, likes celebrating with us, not family. High Queen o’ Unseeling and High King o’ Seelie are trouble, no fun, always fighting, Kingy keeps us out of it,” Mopsy explained.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve heard that,” Sarah admitted.</p><p>“Kingy very kind, very fun, he sing and dance with us! But High King o’ Seelie and High Queen o’ Unseelie very not fun.”</p><p>“Noted,” Sarah nodded.</p><p>“Anything else Lady?” Mopsy asked her.</p><p>“Not at the moment, but if you wouldn’t mind, you can offer my help to Jareth if he should want it,” Sarah offered. “It is the least I could do for him.”</p><p>“I’s tell him,” Mopsy promised with awe.</p><p>“SARAH!” Toby shouted as he waved wildly at her.</p><p>“Heyya Tobes,” she greeted her brother as she walked through the Great Hall. The teens around him looked utterly exhausted. “Morning Draco, Blaise, Daphne, are you three alright.</p><p>“Bloody exhausted,” Blaise yawned. “We have the two to four block of Astronomy,” he muttered.</p><p>“Two to four? In the morning?” she blinked.</p><p>“Yeah,” Daphne yawned. “We’re lucky though,” she muttered. “We have it Thursday and Friday with Hufflepuffs.”</p><p>“Ah, that is luck,” Sarah chuckled humorlessly. “Try the coffee,” she informed the teens.</p><p>“I just want some hash and sausage,” Draco mumbled.</p><p>“There’s plenty of that,” Sarah mused. “I’m going to Hogsmeade, Toby would you like to join?” she asked.</p><p>“Can I!?” he sputtered.</p><p>“Of course,” she chuckled. “I’m just making a call to Grams and Gramps,” she said.</p><p>“First and Second Years can’t go to Hogsmeade,” Blaise yawned.</p><p>“Why not?” she asked.</p><p>“Dunno, just can’t, always been that way,” Blaise admitted as he shoveled a mouthful of eggs into himself.</p><p>“And what about kids who want to call home?”</p><p>“Floo network,” Draco answered.</p><p>“Muggle kids,” she clarified.</p><p>“What do you mean? What’s the floo?”</p><p>“You get some floo powder and when you got a steady fire, toss some in, say the home you want, and talk to them,” Draco said.</p><p>“Well, most muggle families don’t make phone calls through a fire or fire place,” she explained.</p><p>“Letters?” Daphne offered lamely.</p><p>“Well that’s all fine and dandy but most folks don’t like receiving post by owl, it’s rather messy and rather terrifying if I’m honest,” she explained.</p><p>“So how do muggles stay connected?” Draco asked.</p><p>“Well, my great-grandparents were around when they did things by telegram, which is sending a message quickly through Morse code and electricity, then there were letters, which was done by a slower post than your owls. Recently there’s been a development in telephones, which is like the floo network, but done through electricity and recievers and speakers, no fire involved,” she explained.</p><p>“I’ve never seen a telephone,” Daphne said looking up.</p><p>“There’s one down at the pub I was going to be taking Toby to,” she explained as she accepted some hashbrowns and sausage.</p><p>“Which pub?” Blaise asked.</p><p>“Hog’s Head,” she answered.</p><p>“Huh, never been, we should go!” Blaise perked up then.</p><p>“Sounds interesting,” Draco agreed.</p><p>“Excuse me?” a tiny voice came behind her and she twisted to see the little Hufflepuff her brother often hung out with.</p><p>“Hello, Rose, right?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“Yeah! Sarah this is Rose, Rose, my sister Sarah!” Toby announced.</p><p>“Hi,” the girl smiled shyly at her. “I never met a Lady before,” the girl admitted.</p><p>“Well I’m a yank, so not a lady how you’re thinking, but what can I do for you?”</p><p>“I was wondering if I could… go with you, Lady Sarah,” Rose whispered shyly.</p><p>“To Hogsmeade?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah, I want to call me mum,” she explained.</p><p>“I don’t see why not,” she admitted.</p><p>“Call? Did someone say there’s a phone? I want to call my da!”</p><p>“Me too!”</p><p>“Me too!” there were soon shouts from lots of other children.</p><p>Sarah sighed and stood up on her bench as she set her mouth to make a loud, piercing, cab whistle which silenced a lot of the younger kids who stared her with large eyes. “Alright, now that I have your attention, children who would like to go to Hogsmeade to call home, raise your hands,” she ordered.</p><p>Hands shot up there.</p><p>So many children which had her sighing.</p><p>“Alright, get yourselves sorted by house and age; I’ll take a roster of kids who want to make calls and arrange it so we can,” she said as she looked over them. “Mopsy!” she called.</p><p>“Yes Lady?”</p><p>“I need my spiral notebook and a pen from my desk please,” she asked.</p><p>“Yes Lady!” the elf disappeared and reappeared holding the red spiral notebook and a pen.</p><p>“Thank you,” she smiled as she accepted the items as she looked over the kids. “Very well, I will pass this around, I want siblings to write their names together, I’ll do this by house starting left to right,” she gestured through the hall. “I want this done orderly so please write your names so I can read them; put the family house number there too, I will proceed from there,” she called out as she handed her notebook to Toby first. Her brother scribbled his name and handed it off to the next Slytherin at the table.</p><p>“Miss Williams?” Professor McGonagall called walking forward, Sarah hopped off her bench as she shoved her hands in her jean pockets.</p><p>“How can I help you, professor?” she asked as the notebook zipped through the tables now. One of the kids had bewitched her pen she noticed.</p><p>“What is going on?”</p><p>“Getting names and numbers for children who want to make a phone call home. I’m taking the kids to Hogsmeade after I talk to Aberforth at Hog’s Head about using his telephone,” she explained.</p><p>“The children have the post,” McGonagall started.</p><p>“Which would’ve been fine, last century, but muggle culture has progressed since the turn of the century and a lot of families do not receive post, receiving post from an owl too would also be unsettling for normal families, a telephone call though would be appreciated would be easier to do,” she explained.</p><p>“And what is a telephone?” McGonagall asked looking curious.</p><p>“It’s a way to make something like a floo call, but for muggles, I’d be happy to show you,” she offered. “I need to make a call to my grandfolks in Oxfordshire,” she explained.</p><p>“Students have the post,” McGonagall stated again.</p><p>“And I’m not saying not to use the post, but some folks might like talking to their child, you know. Checking in, catching up, hearing their kid is doing well,” she shrugged. “It wouldn’t be right to isolate and cut off children from their families, magical or not. Family’s family and it’s sometimes all you got in this cold, cruel world, and it’d be cruel to tear them from their families prematurely for cultural differences that are easy to fix, like making a phone call.”</p><p>“I do not believe we have cut off any child from their family, magical or muggle,” McGonagall started.</p><p>“Of that I have no doubt, but owl post, from what I’ve seen is terrifying as a muggle and rather intimidating,” she stated. “IT wouldn’t be a good, comforting way to receive news about how your child is doing.”</p><p>“I see, well… I suppose a lot of wizard families utilize the floo network to keep touch, this is no different. But I would like to see and examine this telephone before students use it to ensure their safety,” McGonagall declared.</p><p>“Fair enough, I need to talk to Aberforth about this anyway,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Lady!” a small boy ran to her. “Here you are, and I like the pen, where can I get some?” he asked her.</p><p>“I’ll make arrangements,” she chuckled. “Thank you for the notebook,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I’m Angus, Angus MacPherson, in Hufflepuff.” He said.</p><p>“Noted,” she promised. “I’ll be back at lunch for a list of kids who want muggle supplies,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Thank you, Lady!” the boy bounded off.</p><p>“I’ll finish breakfast and talk to the pub owner and arrange for the phone calls,” she informed the kids as she sat back down. McGonagall looked curious as she walked to the head table.</p><p>“I never thought about it that way,” Draco muttered.</p><p>“Thought about what, what way?” she asked the boy.</p><p>“Muggleborns being torn from their families and tossed into our world,” Draco explained.</p><p>“Cultural clash then,” she chuckled. “I supposed it’d be equally hard for muggle and wizard to come together, but that’s to be expected, do they teach the cultures here? Because education of both sides might eliminate some of the clash,” she offered.</p><p>“You mean force us to take Muggle Studies?” Daphne sneered.</p><p>“What!?” Sarah’s head snapped up. “They call it what!?” she seethed.</p><p>“Muggle Studies, and it’s dreadful,” Blaise explained. “I’ve learned more about muggles from Toby here than in that class,” he sneered.</p><p>“Oh…” Sarah growled as she turned to glare at Drumbledore who was watching her. She was insulted, and infuriated that there was a class termed not only Muggle Studies, but about muggle culture when there appeared to be no grasping of her normal life by wizards!</p><p>“Sarah,” Toby whispered.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“You have the scary look mom always said would leave you single and alone,” Toby whispered.</p><p>“Toby!” she shrieked.</p><p>“What!?”</p><p>“Gods this is worse than Irene,” she groaned, which had the kids around her giggling.</p><p>“Mom was worried about you,” he pointed out.</p><p>“I’m twenty-five, plenty of time to find a husband, but there’s no one interesting and I’m busy,” she pointed out as she tugged his ear gently. “Now eat up, I’ll finish my breakfast and I’ll make arrangements for those kids to have phone calls,” mused.</p><p>“So you’re single, Lady Williams?” Draco chuckled.</p><p>“I’m not sharing the status of my love life,” she stated. “Eat, I need to go to Hogsmeade,” she stated as she continued her breakfast. Once that was finished, she got up, ruffled her brother’s hair as she kissed his brow. McGonagall walked over and Sarah opened her notebook carefully she tore out the two pieces of paper as she called for Mopsy and handed off the notebook.</p><p>“Miss Williams,” McGongall started.</p><p>“Toby has told me he loves your class, finds Transfiguration most interesting,” Sarah cut off as they walked.</p><p>“Really!?” she seemed stunned.</p><p>“Yes, but he’s also admitted he really likes Charms,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Ah, I see, your brother is rather creative,” McGonagall admitted. “I read your novel, <em>The Owl King and the Peach</em>, I must admit I was impressed on your grasp of magical theory regarding time travel.”</p><p>“Is that so?”</p><p>“Though admittedly I was curious what inspired it.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she chuckled. “I studied mythology at university, I had a particular fascination with Celtic lore, as it was so unlike most of Europe’s, and yet it spread. Specifically, I liked studying pre-Christian lore in the Celtic regions, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, even the Anglo-Saxon lore. Then there was the quantum physicist I date, and while he was a troll to listen to, he did give me rather interesting ideas on time and the usage of time; in theory naturally,” she explained. The long practiced, well-rehearsed lie she few all her readers and her agent; no one had called her on it and she didn’t think anyone ever would.</p><p>“I see, muggles study time?” McGonagall asked.</p><p>“Yes, though perhaps not how to manipulate or travel with it, those I took liberties with,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I see, I did wonder though, why that title?”</p><p>“The Owl King and the Peach?” she clarified.</p><p>“Yes, all the book you refer to him as a villain, and a Goblin King, and the girl isn’t anything special,” McGonagall stated.</p><p>“Ah,” she chuckled humorlessly. “That was intentional.”</p><p>“I must admit I was impressed with the tale,” McGonagall said as they walked out of the castle and towards the village.</p><p>“I’m glad it impressed you, it was a lot of fun to write,” she admitted.</p><p>“Though I was displeased with such an ending,” McGonagall huffed. “Of all the things for the Goblin King to do,” she shook her head.</p><p>“Well, he was true to his word, he did everything she asked, and their deal never included her,” Sarah admitted.</p><p>“It was disappointing,” McGonagall admitted. “Such an open end without resolve.”</p><p>“That’s why there’s to be another book <em>The Goblin Queen</em>, it’s out in November,” Sarah explained. “I didn’t title it, I hate that title, I wanted to call it something else but David overrode my say.”</p><p>“And what would you have titled it if you had a say?” McGonagall asked in amusement.</p><p>“Dancing with Fae,” she answered automatically.</p><p>“Interesting selection,” McGonagall mused.</p><p>The conversation continued in such a manner for the rest of the walk until they reached Hogsmeade. Sarah immediately broke away from the professor and walked towards Hog’s Head. Her goblin guard was making itself known now as they bounced and rolled around her, crashing into walls and people alike. Several of the locals seemed perplexed about what was going on, but none the wiser to the goblins and their antics.</p><p>“Good morning, Mister Aberforth,” Sarah called as she walked into the old pub.</p><p>“If it isn’t Miss Williams,” the tender greeted as he walked up to the bar to look down on her with cold blue eyes. “What brings you here?” he drawled as he continued cleaning glasses.</p><p>“Well, I was wondering if by happenstance you and I could come to some sort of business arrangement regarding your telephone,” she said as she leaned on the bar and smiled.</p><p>“Why?” he asked coldly.</p><p>“It has come to my attention that there are many students who would like to ring home rather than use the post,” she said. “As a muggle I can attest to how… unsettling, it is to have a giant owl come flying into your room,” she omitted truthfully. She didn’t expand on the point of said owl being a bloody fae there to abduct her brother because she was a stupid, idiotic, self brat wishing him away. However, Jareth was always a drama queen and all about presentation.</p><p>“And what do you want?”</p><p>“I’ll cover whatever the costs, but I was wondering if the students might be free to use your telephone on the weekend,” she said pulling the list from her pockets. “These are the students who want to ring home,” she said.</p><p>Aberforth grumbled as he picked them up and started reading over them.</p><p>“This is a lot of students,” he observed.</p><p>“I’ll cover the cost,” she promised.</p><p>“Why doesn’t the school already have a telephone?” he asked.</p><p>“Albus believes that the post is enough,” McGonagall said stepping forward.</p><p>“Course he would,” Aberforth grumbled. “Arrange the times, I’ll let them make their calls on the weekends of course,” he huffed. “Bastard should’ve arranged communication better for the kids. Bastard should know better.”</p><p>“Thank you Aberforth, you are a gentleman,” she smiled.</p><p>His cheeks tinted pink as he continued cleaning his glass.</p><p>“I’ll tell the kids and bring them down today and tomorrow,” she explained.</p><p>“They better not trash my bar,” he warned her seriously.</p><p>“They will clean it top to bottom if they should wreck anything,” she promised.</p><p>He grunted with a harsh nod. “You, Miss Williams are free to use the telephone whenever you please, I don’t use it much beyond coordinating with muggle liquor venders,” he explained in a gruff tone.</p><p>“Thank you, that is very generous of you,” she smiled. “I’ll give my agent the number here if he wants to reach me, if that is alright with you,” she offered.</p><p>“I don’t mind, but agent for what?” he asked.</p><p>“I’m a novelist,” she explained.</p><p>“Ah,” he nodded, a bit confounded.</p><p>“Fantasy, adventure novels,” she explained with a chuckle. “Thank you for this, Aberforth.”</p><p>“You will cover the cost?” he verified.</p><p>“Yes,” she promised.</p><p>“Then yes, I will let the kids use the telephone,” he agreed as he handed back the papers.</p><p>“Thank you,” she nodded.</p><p>“Miss Williams, how does this work?” McGonagall asked.</p><p>“Well, this is what you talk into, this is against your ear,” she demonstrated as she picked up. “You have numbers here, dialed in a certain order will get you to another phone and you have a conversation, rather simple, easy and safe,” she shrugged as she put the phone down.</p><p>“Interesting,” she murmured as she examined the telephone.</p><p>“So, will you let me bring the kids here for their phone calls?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“Very well,” McGonagall huffed. “But I cannot permit the First and Second Years to remain in the village, it is a privilege for the older students,” she stated.</p><p>“Fair enough, until my employer finishes installing my own telephone,” she answered as they started walking through the village again.</p><p>“Your employer would dare to bring the telephone to Hogwarts?”</p><p>“As it’s his castle, yes, I merely asked for the tech I needed to do my job and he’s decided that includes the telephone. I’m sure he’ll be fascinated with it and everything once it’s installed,” she explained.</p><p>“I have been wondering whom the Master of the Castle is if it were not Dumbledore,” McGonagall conversationally offered.</p><p>“You and my brother, and his housemates, and everyone else, but I can’t say who he is,” Sarah stated. “I am not permitted to speak of who he is.”</p><p>“’Tis most unsettling and strange,” McGonagall remarked.</p><p>“And Umbridge isn’t?” Sarah asked.</p><p>McGonagall blinked a few times before a throaty chortle escaped her. “I do suppose that she is a… unique teacher.”</p><p>“A nightmare, you know people like her make holocaust atrocities possible, she’ll probably start by removing small freedoms and taking over the school,” Sarah pointed out. “Also, why would the Ministry send her, she’s fairly fucking useless as a person, and Toby’s admitted she’s the most impractical and pointless teacher he has. And that’s his assessment after the first week of being here.”</p><p>“’Tis but a ploy by the Minister of Magic to undermine Dumbledore’s authority and credibility,” McGonagall explained.</p><p>“Mmm, and why is that, last I checked Britain wasn’t an authoritarian government, things cannot be that different between the wizarding and muggle worlds,” Sarah huffed.</p><p>“Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard in Britain, Minister Fudge is not fond of the idea that Dumbledore is not only more powerful but a more competent candidate for the position he holds,” McGonagall stated.</p><p>“I sincerely doubt Dumbledore is as competent or powerful as everyone believes, the man is an unimpressive snake,” Sarah huffed.</p><p>“I beg your pardon!” McGonagall turned on her.</p><p>“No, you don’t. That odious man told a ten year old who had just lost his parents and nearly lost me, that it was his fault that bad people decided to kill our parents; because he had Magic. Victim blaming and pinning the actions of monsters on a ten year old is horrible, and unforgivable. Not to mention the man is the most intrusive, snooping man I have ever met,” she stated.</p><p>“He has good reasons for doing what he does,” McGonagall started softly.</p><p>“Like what?” she snapped.</p><p>“We are amidst a wizarding crisis,” she stated. “A dark wizard is trying to gain power and tear us apart!”</p><p>“And instead of teach compassion and unity, you teach mistrust and prejudice. Muggle Studies! Of all the demeaning things to bloody teach when you have a whole slew of muggleborns coming into the school, instead of teaching both cultures you teach one, and it has such a demeaning title that I’m furious, and I hate the label muggle! You have four houses, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, and for some reason Slytherins don’t feel safe enough in their own bloody school to walk around alone, my brother is escorted by the older students of his house who have stressed it’s not safe to be a lone Slytherin. These are children, and what has Dumbledore done to rectify these feelings these children have? From what I’ve seen, nothing!” Sarah stated. “I’ve only been here a week, I would hate to know what I’ll see or think in a month or even a year!”</p><p>“The Slytherins are no more or less safe than any other student in this school!”</p><p>“Not from what I’ve heard and not from what I’ve seen,” Sarah stated. “You want to stop this war you seem to find yourselves in, stop the us versus them mentality, instilling it in youths only makes it easier for adults to tear apart societies.”</p><p>“It is more complex than that, Miss Williams.”</p><p>“No doubt, but if you educate, and unite rather than prejudice and divide you might find a solution for your fucking problems! Something as simple as arranging phone calls for students, or teaching wizarding culture as equal as muggle culture, or treating each house the same so Slytherins don’t feel isolated and persecuted; no doubt every other house has something they feel targeted for, I haven’t met all of them though, so I don’t know for certain,” she stated. “It was lovely talking with you, but I will go collect the kids for making these calls,” she said as she walked away from McGonagall.</p><p>She walked into the courtyard to see a lot of eager students.</p><p>“Oh boy,” she muttered.</p><p>“So, you’re the lady taking us to call our parents?” some of the kids looked eager and wary.</p><p>“Yes,” she answered. “I am Lady Sarah Williams,” she offered with a sweeping bow, which had some of the children giggling. “I am employed by the Master of the Castle, you probably know me as the weird lady in the library,” she offered. More giggles which had her smiling.</p><p>“You’re funny,” one of the kids chuckled.</p><p>“Why thank you, I do stand up every Tuesday,” she offered wryly, which had the older kids there chuckling.</p><p>“Is this a yankee thing?”</p><p>“It’s a New Yorker thing,” she offered with a wave of her hand.</p><p>“Do the Slytherins have to come,” one of the red robes sneered.</p><p>“They are welcomed, just the same as you, though if I should hear any snide, cruel, selfish remarks from anyone here I will leave you here,” she stated as she came to tower over the child. “I will not tolerate hate, or bullying, from anyone, of any house,” she warned severely. “If you should have a problem with that, I will have my friend Mopsy bring you straight back to the school.”</p><p>“You’re a muggle, right?”</p><p>“Yes, I am, though I hate the term, I am a person of nonmagical abilities,” she clarified. “A person all the same, I am not less than a witch or wizard, I am equal in different measure,” she stated.</p><p>“That’s a funny way to look at it,” a different kid observed.</p><p>“I suppose it is, however, I have crumbled worlds, and thwarted kings, without magic, so I will not tolerated being treated as anything other than an equal for I am not inferior to you with or without magic, I am different,” she clarified.</p><p>“Is it Miss or Lady?” one of the older kids asked.</p><p>“I suppose that will depend upon who you ask,” she chuckled. “I will accept both though,” she promised. “Now, two lines, single file please, I don’t want you grouping together by house, stick close to your siblings though,” she said.</p><p>“Sarah!” Toby appeared, jogging up to her.</p><p>“Heyya Tobes, I wasn’t gone that long,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I know, but I want to walk with you,” he stated.</p><p>“Get your friend and we’ll walk together,” she offered.</p><p>“Rose?”</p><p>“Sure, I’d love to meet your friends,” she chuckled. Toby darted off to go find his friend.</p><p>“Lady Williams?” a voice called which had her turning to look at Draco and Daphne.</p><p>“Morning,” she greeted.</p><p>“We were wondering if you would like some Prefects to help you out, our Head of House asked me to ask you,” Daphne said.</p><p>“I would love some help, this was a bit more than I was expecting,” she offered.</p><p>“So how do you want this to work?” Draco asked.</p><p>“Well, just help make sure I arrive with the same amount of kids I leave with,” she chuckled. “If you can, if there’s other Prefects in the group or other Head Boys and Head Girls have them help out please.”</p><p>“Yeah,” Draco nodded.</p><p>“Thank you,” she called after the teens as the kids shuffled into single file.</p><p>“Alright, and we’re set so off we go!” she called out.</p><p>There was a pert cough which had Sarah halting as she came face to face with Umbridge. The kids following her hit her waist and took to peering around her.</p><p>“The Minister…” Umbridge started.</p><p>“Can suck a cock for I care, we’re going to go make phone calls and if he has a problem with children communicating with their families then he can take it up with me, and if he still has a problem with it, I have a list of numbers of parents who would be thrilled to shred him for not letting them talk to their kids.”</p><p>“You are not a teacher, and not permitted to take students off campus,” Umbridge stated.</p><p>“But I am,” a sardonic voice stated with a tempered tone. “My apologies for my tardiness, I had to make arrangements with my Head Boy and Head Girl.”</p><p>“Ah, Professor Snape, a pleasure to have you join us,” Sarah said as she turned on the severe looking man.</p><p>“Indeed,” he drawled out. “Let us be off, I have other things to do,” he stated.</p><p>“Thank you for this,” Sarah said once they left Umbridge sputtering behind them.</p><p>“Dumbledore instructed me to keep you out of mischief,” he stated.</p><p>“Oh, did he now?”</p><p>“He feels you will bring about all manner of troubles, Miss Williams,” he stated, looking pointedly down his nose at her.</p><p>“He doesn’t know me very well to think that,” she smiled innocently. “But thank you for accompanying us.”</p><p>“Of course, anything to upset Umbridge,” he sniffed as they walked.</p><p>“So… potions,” she drawled out.</p><p>“What of them?”</p><p>“Is it like chemistry?” she asked bluntly.</p><p>“I…” he seemed confounded now.</p><p>“I know it’s magical, and you mix certain things together and you get a potion, but how does it work, how is it different from chemistry, is it similar, or is the base realities so different that it creates its own magic?”</p><p>“Base realities?”</p><p>“Yes, obviously magic comes from somewhere, so why do some have it and others do not? Though I suppose that could be Changelings and such, but still, the question stands; is magic from all realities or two separate ones that some have access to, and others do not?” she said.</p><p>“I have never thought about it,” he omitted while assessing her with a curious look.</p><p>“Really? Why not?”</p><p>“It is of no relevance,” he answered.</p><p>“Fair enough, but surely you’re curious,” she persisted.</p><p>“You are a peculiar woman, Miss Williams,” he stated.</p><p>“So, I’ve been told,” she chuckled with a sly smile.</p><hr/><p>Bill arrived in Hogsmeade a bit nervous, he hadn’t ever been sent out to seduce anyone and other than a few chicks, he hadn’t had a whole lot of dating experience. There’d be Nephthys and Meresankh, but that was about it for his love life, and both those women had been fun but not serious dating. Egyptian Wizards had different expectations for their unions than English Wizards did, and it had been fun, fun to get to know them and learn, but it had also been done with a clarity that they wouldn’t be serious or anything.</p><p>They weren’t missions handed to him.</p><p>Sarah Williams would be a mission, and that unsettled him. He didn’t like the idea of using an innocent woman like that.</p><p>Walking into the village he immediately spotted her, it was hard not to. Her ruby red fedora, a new feather was tucked on its band, her ebony hair tumbled freely, her loose cream colored sweater, long, vintage style, leather, laced, heel boots, and torn jeans stuck out as she walked with Severus Snape leading a gaggle of children. What struck him was the confidence and grace she walked with, despite looking out of place and out of time, she always had confidence.</p><p>He followed the gaggle of kids into the Hog’s Head, surprised when he walked in to see her organizing the kids alphabetical and by families.</p><p>“Alright, we will go A to Z this time, and next week Z to A,” she said.</p><p>“That’s not fair!” someone said.</p><p>“I wonder what your basis for comparison is,” she retorted. “This is the best that can be done with sheer numbers, so, all calls will be no more than fifteen minutes, because everyone needs to go. While kids are making calls, we will order lunch, probably form study groups, if I can arrange it there’ll be movie days, but that’ll be in the future,” she said.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Really, any questions?” she asked. No one raised their hands. “Alright, first up, Abbott,” she called out. A girl darted forward and ran for the phone. Sarah hopped down as she let the girl have some privacy and sat down. Kids mingled and started chatting while they waited their turn. Sarah looked at her watch and then sighed.</p><p>“Miss Williams?” he said walking for. She looked up and he was stunned at her piercing green eyes which assessed him rather icily.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“I’m Bill, Bill Weasley, we met at Gringotts,” he said.</p><p>“Oh right! So sorry about running into you,” she chuckled. “How are you?”</p><p>“I’m well,” he chuckled. “Mind if I join you?”</p><p>“Not at all,” she said kicking out the battered chair that was across from her for him.</p><p>“Thanks,” he chuckled. “What is this?”</p><p>“Calls home,” she answered.</p><p>“Calls?”</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“Like the floo?”</p><p>“Like the telephone,” she countered.</p><p>“I see,” he mused.</p><p>“Doesn’t seem right that Dumbledore cut off children from a reliable, easy form of communication between them and their families, so I brought the kids here for family phone calls today,” she said. “Aberforth has been kind enough to let them use his phone until I have my own.”</p><p>“I see, that’s thoughtful of you,” he admitted seeing how many kids were eagerly awaiting their turn.</p><p>“It should’ve already been thought of,” she huffed. “All food and drinks are on me for the kids today Aberforth! Just set up a tab, please!” she called out loudly.</p><p>“That’s generous of you,” he mused.</p><p>“My employer would want this,” she admitted. “So what brings you to Hogsmeade?” she asked.</p><p>“To be honest, you,” he answered.</p><p>“Me?” she looked bewildered.</p><p>“Yes, my coworkers are so enamored with you, I was curious,” he shrugged.</p><p>“Ah, the goblins,” she mused.</p><p>“Yes,” he answered.</p><p>“Charming creatures,” she smiled.</p><p>“You’d be the first to think that,” he informed her.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“They’re not well liked by most the wizarding population, Cornelius Fudge hates them, he’s known as the Goblin Crusher?”</p><p>“That’s racist, and horrid, the same imbecile who’s Minister of Magic?” she asked him.</p><p>“One in the same.”</p><p>“Gods, no wonder you lot are so backwards,” she muttered.</p><p>“We’re backwards?”</p><p>“And prejudice. Goblins are amazing creatures, sometimes even a delight, why ever would one want to be a Goblin Crusher,” she snorted with disdain.</p><p>Bill chuckled. “Goblins are rather terrifying to be honest, and hard to understand. They aren’t a warm and inviting bunch.”</p><p>“I can hardly blame them if wizards follow a man titled Goblin Crusher,” she retorted.</p><p>“I can’t argue with that. But I’m curious about what you did to get them to love you so?”</p><p>“Nothing special, it was rather stupid and selfish admittedly,” she chuckled humorlessly. “Ah the penalty of youthful follies.”</p><p>“You’re still young,” he pointed out.</p><p>“I was younger when I met goblins,” she clarified.</p><p>“And how does a muggle meet goblins?”</p><p>“I did something stupid and selfish,” she repeated.</p><p>“But what?” he asked.</p><p>She leaned back in her seat with a dangerous, predatory sort of smile and an amused look in her eyes as she looked him over carefully. The look was terrifying, intimidating, and sexy as sin, he thought as he watched her back. “I’ll tell you what, Mister Weasley, when you figure out what I did I’ll tell you how I won over the goblins,” she offered.</p><p>“An impossible inquiry on your end no doubt.”</p><p>“Very good,” she chuckled.</p><p>“But I like a challenge, Miss Williams,” he admitted. Now he was curious about her, he didn’t want to seduce her, but she was an intriguing lady, perhaps this assignment would be more challenging than he anticipated.</p><p>“How do you feel about puzzles and riddles?”</p><p>“I’m a Curse Breaker, they’re my job.”</p><p>“You must be very good at your job, Mister Weasley.”</p><p>“I am, I’m one of the best,” he admitted.</p><p>“That’s good,” she nodded.</p><p>“And yourself?”</p><p>“I’m good at my job as well,” she admitted.</p><p>“And what is your job?”</p><p>“To create tales to enchant people with.”</p><p>“A storyteller.”</p><p>“A novelist.”</p><p>“Interesting, anything I’ve read?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jareth wanted to beat his head against a stone wall. He truly hated planning parties to accommodate the Seelie and Unseelie courts; they were fucking impossible.</p><p>It was Mabon! He didn’t even celebrate Mabon!</p><p>It wasn’t like it was Samhain or Beltane or something of importance for his kingdom’s traditions! It was a new holiday his parents had adopted to keep ties with mortals because their power was dwindling while his was growing. Jareth hated it, and he hated he had decided to celebrate Mabon so he could distract his family.</p><p>He didn’t even like his family, other than his dead brother and dead nephew.</p><p>There was a sharp crack.</p><p>“Mopsy,” he greeted without looking up from his paperwork for the party and preparations of the party.</p><p>“Kingy, Lady is wonderful, truly,” Mopsy gushed.</p><p>“Well, that’s bloody wonderful, maybe she’d like to take over running the kingdom she’s stolen,” he muttered to himself as he looked over his sisters demands. Why did he have so many sisters and why the hell were there this many demands!? On second thought, he didn’t want to contemplate Morgan or Oberon’s sex lives with their respective mates, a horrifying thought. It was horrifying enough that he existed; he shuddered at the thought as he slammed his papers down to look at the enchanted house elf. “What is it Mopsy?” he sighed as he rubbed his temple.</p><p>“Lady has offered aid with Mabon celebrations, in whatever capacity Kingy needed,” Mopsy giggled out with a dreamy smile.</p><p>Jareth said nothing as he slyly stole a glance at the stack of envelopes from eligible bachelorettes from the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms. Before Sarah that was something, he found amusing, but since sharing his song and dancing his dance with the mortal all other companionship revolted him. Damn Fae instinct. He still needed to figure out a way to inform his Lady of their unwitting union before she found out and tried to have his head on a platter.</p><p>Upon biting his peach, sharing his song, and his dance with Sarah he had made himself irrevocably hers. And she was his whether she knew it or not. And though his kind were notorious for numerous, frivolous, sexual affairs, once a song was shared, and a dance danced, it was a mating bond for life, and completely monogamous. Which was very maddening since he couldn’t touch his Lady since her damning declaration and reclaiming of Tobias which had sent her to the Above out of his grasp and reach. On the bright side though, the union was completely monogamous, which meant he didn’t have to worry about his little mortal falling for another, ever. Others would bore her no doubt, or just be uninteresting, and it eliminated a lot of worries for him so he didn’t turn into a raging, jealous imbecile.</p><p>Still, before Sarah, his selection of lovers and companions was infinite, since Sarah though… Fucking mortal had ruined his sex life, and he couldn’t touch her until she accepted him as hers; and at the rate that was happening… she’d probably be dead before he could claim her fully. Or if she did figure out they were essentially a mated pair, she’d be so bloody pissed he’d never have a chance at properly wooing her. Sometimes Jareth wondered if the Fates just hated him, they gave him his deepest desire, an equal, but it came in the form of the most delectable, forbidden mortal named Sarah Williams.</p><p>Still, she had volunteered herself, and he knew that she could handle herself, she was also curiously good with puzzles, as well as connecting with his kind of magic. She could be useful for finding the pieces of his brother and slipping through whatever wards and protections that his parents would have set up.</p><p>Then again, bringing Sarah to his world again would alert others to their paired status, and it would put her in danger, which was something he didn’t want. Or worse, someone would tell her what they were, and that horrified him because he was not prepared for her to rip his world and magic asunder. Again.</p><p>“Tell Sarah her offer is appreciated but unnecessary, she should focus on the Above and protecting her brother,” he said as he flicked his wrist. Mopsy disappeared and he leaned back in his shair as he rubbed his temples.</p><p>“Denying us our Lady still?”</p><p>“You want to have her wrath upon us again when she finds out what happened her first trip?” he asked dryly as his most trusted advisor walked in.</p><p>“I suppose not,” the elf sighed. “Though it would be lovely to have a Queen instead of a Lady.”</p><p>Jareth’s eyes narrowed on his friend. “What do you want, Thranduil?”</p><p>“As much as I despise that name, I am pleased that that mortal landed in my area of the Labyrinth rather than running it,” the elf chuckled.</p><p>“I suppose you would be, especially with <em>The Hobbit</em> being your favorite of the mortal’s books,” he chuckled dryly.</p><p>“Can you blame me? I’m in them, though I am fond of the trilogy, <em>The Lord of the Rings</em>, my son isn’t portrayed overly well though,” he sighed.</p><p>“What brings you here?” Jareth asked.</p><p>“I heard a ridiculous rumor I wanted to put to bed for myself rather than continue to listen to such frivolous gossip,” he answered as he took a seat then. “That we are hosting a Mabon celebration here, in the Labyrinth. Obviously, this is slander, so I came to you rather than listen to the dwarves,” he said blandly.</p><p>“It’s not gossip. We are hosting Mabon, here, at the Castle, and you will be in attendance, Albiorix,” he warned the fair elf.</p><p>“This is outrageous!” Albiorix snapped. “We refused to surrender to the newfound holidays foisted on our beliefs!”</p><p>“Yes, we did,” Jareth agreed.</p><p>“We have never conformed to the demands or beliefs of mortals, even when those Christian swine invaded and destroyed our culture!” he snapped.</p><p>“I’m aware,” Jareth admitted as he started looking over the latest demands from one of his sisters.</p><p>“What is this about!?” Albiorix seethed.</p><p>“Sarah,” he answered.</p><p>“You’re doing this to woo our Lady!?” Albiorix seethed.</p><p>“No,” Jareth slammed down the report. “I am not wooing Sarah, there is no wooing! Ever! I am still figuring a way just to befriend her,” he warned his friend. “But I am concerned for her safety, and if I am right about the Above happenings then I need confirmation about that, which will only happen if both the Seelie and Unseelie courts are distracted, which happens to be best done under my bloody roof.”</p><p>“And what of the Wished Aways, and other Runners?”</p><p>“Goblins have always proven to be a strong guard, both in protecting the Wished Away and Runners, I am certain they can keep Seelie and Unseelie alike out of Wished Aways and Runners,” Jareth stated firmly.</p><p>“This is mad!”</p><p>“I’m aware,” Jareth agreed.</p><p>“Then why!?”</p><p>“Because… if I’m right, we’re all doomed,” Jareth admitted softly. “I think it’s the missing piece.”</p><p>“That’s… the missing piece?”</p><p>“What other missing piece would I be talking about!?” Jareth demanded harshly as he rubbed his eyes. “We all know there was a piece missing of him, and if I can eliminate the probable then I will accept that the improbable, no matter how impossible, is the reality.”</p><p>“I see,” Albiorix muttered. “If it isn’t, what will you do?”</p><p>“Declare war?” he offered meekly. “I do not know; I haven’t gotten that far in my plotting.”</p><p>“If it is…?” Albiorix started. “It will not stop going after her…”</p><p>Jareth sighed as he pinched his nose. “My brother will never stop going for her, she is mine, even if she isn’t fully mine, he will want…”</p><p>“Is it not enough that he destroyed his own son?”</p><p>“Nothing was ever enough for him,” Jareth murmured. “I desire to be wrong in this, that it is still missing, but if it is not…”</p><p>“If it is not,” Albiorix agreed warily.</p><p>“He will go for her, whatever host he possesses, he will go for her, as hard as he can with all the powers to bear,” Jareth murmured. “I barely killed him last time.”</p><p>“If you had not torn the realties apart nothing would’ve survived,” Albiorix reminded him. “Is she safe?”</p><p>“Yes, she’s in the Above area of the Labyrinth, the Labyrinth should conceal her well enough, it is also the strongest fae line,” he sighed.</p><p>“I will assign a guard to her,” Albiorix said.</p><p>“No,” Jareth snarled lowly. “She is mine.”</p><p>“She is our Lady, my King, we would never presume to take her from you or that you cannot care for her,” Albiorix promised. “But she is our Lady, your mate, we would rather her protected with everything than to lose you both if she should fall.”</p><p>“Bugsy, Goob, Bugaloo, Little Toby and Bam-Bam already guard her and her brother, Mopsy is her exclusive Lady’s Maid,” he explained. “She is in the Above Labyrinth, I have given her access to her friends, and all the Above already adores her. There is not much more to be done for her protection,” he explained.</p><p>“I would still feel comfortable putting a formal guard on her, perhaps one disguised as a parasite?” he offered.</p><p>“No, she’ll be suspicious,” Jareth admitted. “I had to pick a cunning mortal,” he frowned in disgust and pulled a face at the fact.</p><p>“At least she is not a trollop from your mother or father’s courts,” Albiorix stated firmly.</p><p>“That was never happening,” Jareth snorted. “Sooner hang meself than suffer that fate.”</p><p>“Imagine one of them being our Lady,” Albiorix shuddered.</p><p>“It would mean they’d have to sully their precious magic associating with me or providing me with an heir and that would never happen,” he snorted. A King he might be, but neither Seelie nor Unseelie made him undesirable for most fae looking for a life mate. The Seelie would believe him to be malicious, unpredictable, and cruel, while the Unseelie thought him condescending, aloof, and superfluously merciful. Also, if he should marry a girl from the Seelie court that would gain unnecessary tensions with the Unseelie courts believing him to go more towards the lighter nature, and same problem in reverse if he took an Unseelie bride.</p><p>He would never win, not between the two courts. Not between his parents.</p><p>Eternally damned was what he was, creature sired during a Beltane ritual, born during Samhain. He was thrice damned because of this. And as a damned King of a chaotic, notoriously neutral Kingdom, he was damned to an eternity of solitude. His union to Sarah wasn’t proving to be much as a union as they were barely on friendly terms.</p><p>“I still believe you are harsh on your natural nature,” Albiorix admonished.</p><p>“Thrice damned King of Fools,” Jareth pointed out humorously. “You should either go or help me organize this bloody event because I am pressed for time and it’s one or the other, Albiorix, I’m not in a sociable mood at this time.”</p><p>“I will aid, you will need me to cover your absence from the ongoings,” Albiorix held out his hand for some of the papers.</p><p>“Everyone will be too drunk to notice if I am gone,” he dismissed.</p><p>“Ah, but the ladies will notice, as you have made no public claim on our Lady,” Albiorix scolded again.</p><p>“I’m not a schoolboy in need of scolding for pulling my Lady’s pigtails and running!” he hissed furiously.</p><p>“She’s a woman, not a dragon, Jareth.”</p><p>“A dragon wouldn’t be as terrifying,” he muttered to himself. “She has a dragon temper, I swear she’s related to them somehow, but I do not know how,” he retorted loudly for his friend.</p><p>“She’s a woman, they’re always terrifying temperament creatures, no matter the species,” Albiorix reminded him in a cold, clipped, level tone. “Do not be fooled by their whimsical nature or appearance, the female is always the more dangerous half of the species.”</p><p>“You would know,” Jareth pointed out. “You annoyed my sisters.”</p><p>“They were annoying me first,” he retorted.</p><p>“You fled in fear of their retribution!”</p><p>“Can you blame me? You’ve met Titania!”</p><p>“I didn’t flee from Titania or Morgan.”</p><p>“You’re Goblin King and a dual nature fae, you fear nothing,” Albiorix snorted. “Us mortals fear your step-mother wisely.”</p><p>“Please, my mother’s the one everyone fears,” Jareth retorted blandly.</p><p>“Morgan la Fey is a name that strikes fear into any living being with sense,” Albiorix hissed. “But Titania when her daughters are trifled with, is a thousand times worse!”</p><hr/><p>Bill was chuckling with Sarah as the evening approached.</p><p>“So, have I appeased your curiosity?” she asked as she watched the kids who had settled into study groups of sorts.</p><p>“Not even close,” he assured her.</p><p>“That is a pity,” she purred rather dangerously which had his lips twitching.</p><p>“I don’t know, I would like to know more,” he mused. Bill had never been a big flirt in his life, but damn did Sarah make it easy. She was easy to talk too, charming, witty, entertaining, and rather elusive despite being right before him. If she wasn’t a mission from Dumbledore he would have probably pursued her on his own, she was naturally appealing and naturally interesting.</p><p>“Well, it has been a pleasure,” she sighed when he saw Professor Snape get up and inform the students it was time to go back to Hogwarts.</p><p>“It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Williams,” he chuckled. “But I would like to continue this, perhaps a dinner tomorrow?”</p><p>“A date?” she stopped abruptly as she stared at him with wide, unblinking green eyes.</p><p>“Yes,” he replied.</p><p>“I…” she seemed at a loss then which had him smiling.</p><p>“She says yes!” the little brother appeared around her waist, hugging her. “She’ll go on the date!”</p><p>“Toby!” she scolded which had him chuckling.</p><p>“I will see you tomorrow at the gates then, seven o’clock?” he offered.</p><p>“Alright,” she replied uneasily.</p><p>“I don’t bite,” he promised.</p><p>“Oh but I do,” she warned solemnly. “I’ll see you at the gates tomorrow at seven o’clock,” she promised. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a little brother to go kill,” she declared as she swept out.</p><p>“I know the feeling,” Bill mused as he watched her leave with the students, chatting lightly with the children. Snape glared at him but swept out of the room without a backwards glance. Once alone in Hog’s Head Bill sighed as his head fell back.</p><p>Sarah Williams was interesting, and enchanting, there was something otherworldly about her, and he could see why the goblins were so enamored with her, she chose her words with care and spoke direct without revealing a thought. He waited until she was gone before sending a corporeal patronus to Dumbledore that he was ready to meet. Flooing to his private flat he sighed as he shrugged out of his coat and poured himself some fire whiskey.</p><p>It took about ten minutes and then Dumbledore appeared in his fireplace.</p><p>“What have you learnt?” Dumbledore demanded.</p><p>“Lady Sarah Williams is ordinary,” he answered as he took a sip of his fire whiskey. “Intriguing no doubt, she is rather calm and creative, clearly she’s had encounters with Magic, to what to degree though she won’t share, and whatever she did to win over the goblins isn’t something she’s inclined to reveal.”</p><p>“There is something about her!” Dumbledore huffed sitting down. “It’s maddening to have no access to her.”</p><p>“She is staying in Hogwarts,” Bill pointed out.</p><p>“No one may enter her wing of the castle, it is so heavily warded that it actively redirects everyone but herself and her brother and those invited, the house elves will not inform us of her comings and goings, and her work in the Library is unrestricted but unmonitored because Madam Pince is busy managing students,” Dumbledore said.</p><p>Bill shrugged as he handed over another sniffer of whiskey. “She’s not evil.”</p><p>“But we do not know that!”</p><p>“He never employed muggles before,” Bill pointed out blandly. Voldemort was a lot of things, but vastly appealing to everyone he was not. But for some reason he had appealed to a lot of people, and the right people, to actually be dangerous to the world.</p><p>“She could be the linchpin,” Dumbledore stated firmly.</p><p>“I have a date with her tomorrow night,” he said.</p><p>“Good, you must seduce her, gain her friendship and her trust,” Dumbledore explained. “If you must slip her a love potion.”</p><p>“We’ll see, she’s an engaging woman,” Bill explained with a casual shrug. “I don’t think I’ll need a love potion though, I’m not a complete novice at seduction.”</p><p>“It is important we gain insight to her motives as well as the records of vault 13,” Dumbledore pointed out.</p><p>“I will keep that in mind,” Bill muttered. “But as to the monitors I have on the other vaults you asked about, you’ll be surprised to know that the Lestrage vault has been active.”</p><p>“The Lestrage vault?”</p><p>“Yes, there’s no records about who’s going into it or out of it, just that there’s massive withdrawals and small deposits. There was a deposit of items too, family treasure sort of things. I have clearance to access curious vaults, I was thinking to have a peek.”</p><p>“That’ll be of use,” Dumbledore said dismissively.</p><p>“You know you put me on the desk to monitor the money of the organization, not to seduce random women,” Bill stated.</p><p>“This of importance!”</p><p>“She is just a woman! A muggle woman! She has no ties to this world!”</p><p>“Her muggleborn brother is a Slytherin! I want to know where her allegiance lies, it is for the greater good,” Dumbledore bellowed. “I will protect us from all threats, it is my duty!”</p><p>“It is not yours alone!” Bill snapped furiously.</p><p>“No, but it is one I am taking up!” he snapped as he stormed out of the flat. Bill scowled as he knocked back his drink.</p><hr/><p>“Toby!” she hissed as she stalked after her little brother who was smiling smugly as she caught up. “What the hell!?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Don’t you what me, you little goblin!” she warned. “Why the hell did you get me to agree to a date with Mister Weasley?”</p><p>“You need friends,” Toby stated firmly.</p><p>“And that lead to you agreeing for me to a date?” she asked him skeptically.</p><p>“He made you laugh!”</p><p>“Lots of things make me laugh!”</p><p>“Not really!”</p><p>“You make me laugh.”</p><p>“I’m your brother.”</p><p>“Christ, Toby I didn’t need to go on a date!”</p><p>“Yes you do,” he promised.</p><p>“No I don’t!”</p><p>“Mom said dates are fun, you should have fun!” he reasoned.</p><p>“I have fun!”</p><p>“Writing isn’t fun, Sarah.”</p><p>“It’s loads of fun, and it happens to be my job!”</p><p>“Jobs aren’t fun Sarah.”</p><p>“You’re sounding like Irene,” she warned him.</p><p>He smiled cheekily. “You like Mister Weasley!”</p><p>“I do not!”</p><p>“He made you laugh and giggle!”</p><p>“I laugh and giggle at a lot of things!”</p><p>“Like what?”</p><p>“Jared,” she answered automatically. Jareth’s antics could make her collapse in a fit of giggles, especially his theatrics.</p><p>“Has Jared ever asked you on a date?”</p><p>“No,” she omitted.</p><p>“Well maybe he should!”</p><p>“That would be a terrible idea,” she decided.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because he’s Jared!” she explained. “And this is none of your business, you’re my kid brother! You can’t just go sign me up for dates!” she snapped.</p><p>“But you need one,” he insisted. “And you were having fun with Mister Weasley!”</p><p>“I don’t care, I don’t need a date!” she snapped.</p><p>“Why not!?”</p><p>Sarah rubbed her temples to keep her temper in check as she muttered to herself that he wasn’t Irene and that he didn’t know better, he was just doing what he thought his mom would appreciate.</p><p>“Toby, dates are between people who want more,” she explained.</p><p>“More what?” he asked innocently.</p><p>“Just more!” she snapped.</p><p>“Don’t you want more?”</p><p>“No!” she answered. “I don’t!”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“I’ve done dates before Toby, they’re disappointing, and underwhelming. Yes, Mister Weasley was charming, and interesting to talk to but he is not someone I would date!”</p><p>“Why not?”</p><p>“Because he’s not.”</p><p>“But why!?”</p><p>“Because he’s just not!”</p><p>“Is Jared?”</p><p>“Is Jared what?” she asked through gritted teeth.</p><p>“Someone you would date?”</p><p>“I would consider it, if he asked.”</p><p>“But not Mister Weasley.”</p><p>“I know Jared, I trust Jared, I don’t know Mister Weasley, and I don’t trust him.”</p><p>“So? Aren’t dates supposed to be for getting to know people.”</p><p>“Toby.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Don’t what me,” she warned sharply. “I don’t date people I don’t trust for a lot of reasons. I don’t date people who bore me. And I do not date people who I don’t know.”</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Because I don’t.”</p><p>“But what?”</p><p>“For the same reasons you don’t get in cars with strangers, and you don’t take candy from people on the street!”</p><p>“It’s dangerous?”</p><p>“It can be.”</p><p>“I don’t think Mister Weasley is dangerous.”</p><p>“It’s a different kind of dangerous, kid.”</p><p>“Why aren’t you interested in dating?”</p><p>“Because I’m not, and I’m busy and it’s not fair to the guy,” she listed out.</p><p>“But why?”</p><p>“You’ll get it when you’re older,” she huffed as she shoved her brother’s head a bit.</p><p>“Stop that! You’re messing up the hair!”</p><p>“You always have bedhead,” she retorted.</p><p>“I like it!”</p><p>“You like helmet hair too,” she snickered.</p><p>“Lady Williams!” a voice called as they neared the castle.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>A blur of blue and black ran and crashed into her waist, having her stagger a few steps. “Thank you! Thank you so much for today!” the kid said.</p><p>“Um… yeah, no problem,” she said patting the young kid on the shoulder.</p><p>“I’m Eloise,” the girl said pulling away.</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” Sarah chuckled. “This is Toby,” she said motioning to her brother.</p><p>“I have Herbology, Flying, History and all the electives with you,” Eloise said shyly to Toby.</p><p>“I like Flying,” Toby said walking off with the girl.</p><p>“Me too!”</p><p>“This is a very kind thing to do for the children,” a sardonic voice informed her which had her turning to look up at Severus Snape.</p><p>“Thank you for helping me arrange it,” she said.</p><p>“Anything to displease Umbridge,” he replied wryly.</p><p>“So she’s not just annoying me!?” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>He gave her a frown which had her snickering.</p><p>“Still, thank you for coming with us,” she said.</p><p>“You are welcome, I am pleased the students had this opportunity,” he admitted. “I wish someone had offered it to me in my time,” he explained.</p><p>“No one should be cut off from their family.”</p><p>“And covering food and drink of the students?”</p><p>“Ah, that would be by the grace of my employer, he would want them content,” she explained.</p><p>“It was kind,” he nodded.</p><p>“Least I could do, and I hope you had a good day with us,” she smiled at him.</p><p>“It was… unexpected.”</p><p>“Unexpected is the best,” she decided.</p><p>“Depends,” he agreed.</p><p>“And thank you for looking out for Toby, I get the sense he isn’t the more normal child for what your house normally gets.”</p><p>“He is unique,” Snape said.</p><p>“Thank you.”</p><p>“It is an interesting mix,” Snape replied as he walked off with a dramatic sweep of his cloak. Sarah shook her head as she continued trailing after the kids.</p><p>“Lady Williams?” a small new voice caught her attention and she looked over at a small boy.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Thank you!” he whispered.</p><p>“Of course,” she smiled.</p><p>“Are you really a muggle?”</p><p>“I suppose I am,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I’m Dennis, Dennis Creevy, Second Year Gryffindor,” he introduced. “My brother said I shouldn’t go because you’re obviously evil, but what you did today was really nice so I don’t think you’re evil.”</p><p>“I’m glad I’m not evil,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I couldn’t talk to my parents at all last year, it was horrible, I’m happy I got to call me mum though,” he explained.</p><p>“We’ll be doing the same thing, same time next week, though I think I’ll talk Aberforth into getting a television so we might watch something to pass the time. Perhaps a few board games as well,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Wicked! I’ll get the other kids to help!” he giggled and ran off. She chuckled as she watched him meet up with a bunch of other children in red and black robes.</p><p>“The telephone was the strangest contraption I had ever seen,” the Prefects said walking by her.</p><p>“But it was interesting, I wonder what else muggles have done,” one of the girls said.</p><p>“Oh, that’s nothing, wait until television and movies,” she heard another say.</p><p>Shaking her head Sarah walked into the castle and sighed as she felt the powerful hum of the Labyrinth beneath her feet. It didn’t take long for her to wind her way through to the Great Hall, though she had taken her time, examining paintings and the likes. Upon entering the Great Hall though she was besieged upon by Umbridge who was grinning rather triumphantly and wickedly, which had Sarah frowning a bit.</p><p>“You are fired and banished from the grounds by authority of the Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge, himself!” Umbridge declared and seemed to be looking around for something to happen to her. Sarah rolled her eyes, folded her arms and cocked her hip as she raised a brow and narrowed her eyes.</p><p>“When the so-called Goblin Crusher should find the courage to attempt to banish me, himself, on his own power rather than the illusory power of you, then we’ll see how that goes,” she stated and walked past a floundering Umbridge.</p><p>“I take it as in today was a success?” McGonagall said as she neared the head table.</p><p>“I think so, kids seemed happier,” she offered as she took off her hat and hung it on a chair post as she seated herself.</p><p>“I do believe that this is the happiest I’ve seen the students in recent years.</p><p>“I’m going to arrange to have a television and VCR so we can do a movie day next time,” she explained.</p><p>“And what are those?” McGonagall demanded.</p><p>“Perfectly safe, it’s like your portraits, acting out plays for entertainment,” she explained.</p><p>“Interesting,” McGonagall decided.</p><p>“It’ll be fun, good fun for the kids,” she promised as she accepted her servings. She would get through dinner, have a lovely tea with Mopsy, and look over David’s notes and edits for her latest <em>Bog of Eternal Stench</em> book for the kids. It would be a quiet evening.</p><p>Teachers gave out the daily announcements for the students, talking about the Quidditch game set up for tomorrow. Sarah listened absently as she ate. Once she was done eating she was out of the Great Hall and walking up to her room. Walking into the solar she was surprised to find Jareth sprawled out with his legs stretched out in front of him and his nose buried in a book.</p><p>“Um… what are you doing here?” she asked as she put her hat up on a hook and looked around.</p><p>“This is my chambers,” he answered as he pulled himself from his book and looked at her in confusion. “What are you doing here?”</p><p>“Well I was going to my room, and this is my room,” she pointed out. They both looked around the solar and then at each other.</p><p>“Bloody hell,” he groaned as his head fell back.</p><p>“Well since you’re here,” she sighed as she started untangling her hair to twist it up into a bun. “I guess we can have our game of chess,” she said.</p><p>“Very well,” he replied shutting his book and conjuring a board with the pieces.</p><p>“White or black?” he asked her.</p><p>“I’ll be white,” she answered. “You’re already dressed for the black pieces,” she chuckled.</p><p>“It’s been a very long day,” he grumbled as he lounged in his seat. “Your move, my Lady,” he gestured.</p><p>“Thank you,” she said and made the opening move. Jareth countered.</p><p>“Do you want to tell me how we’ve gotten this mix up?” she asked as the game started to unfold for them.</p><p>“No idea,” he sighed.</p><p>“Mmm,” she hummed. “Well, how was your long day?”</p><p>“Boring, tedious, and obnoxious, yourself?” he asked.</p><p>“Took the kids down to make telephone calls with their families, didn’t get to talk to mine though Toby did, been threaten by a Ministry stooge, the toad lady, and got asked on a date, which Toby decided I was going on,” she sighed.</p><p>“A date!?” he sputtered glancing up at her in confusion.</p><p>“Courting,” she explained.</p><p>“I am aware of what a date is!” he snapped.</p><p>“Just making sure,” she chuckled.</p><p>“And why are you being asked on dates?”</p><p>“Cause I’m gorgeous,” she replied with a wicked smile.</p><p>“So I’ve notice,” he muttered sourly.</p><p>“Honestly, I was going to turn him down, but Toby agreed to it, and now I’m going,” she sighed.</p><p>“Why ever would you be turning down other courtships?” he asked.</p><p>She felt her cheeks heat a little as she took his knight. Sarah had never; since she was fifteen, felt an inkling to date. The times she tried it to appease her stepmother, her deceased grandmother, and her university friends, it had always felt more like a chore. When she was a teenager the boys were boring, uninteresting, and only interested in getting into her pants. When she was at university, the boys were still boys, boring, self-absorbed in their self-importance and rather bland. No one excited her, no one other than the damn fae who sat across from her. She had tried, desperately tried to be normal from the time she was seventeen to twenty; kissing boys, going to parties, dating, attempting to be seduced or attempting to seduce; it had all been rather… uninteresting. And if they bored her at dinner, she could only imagine how they’d bore her in bed.</p><p>“Because they’re usually boring,” she informed Jareth in a clipped tone. She didn’t add that they weren’t him because she feared admitting her secret infatuation to him and the repercussions that could have on their friendship which had only recently come to happening on her plane of existence. He might be the King of Dreams, and they might’ve met up in her dreams, but only on her terms, he had been very clear stressing that it was only ever when she invited him that he came.</p><p>The fae looked a bit startled at her statement as he leaned back assessing her. “Boring dates? Whatever are you dating? Trolls?”</p><p>“I was thinking ogres really, but tomato-tamoto,” she shrugged.</p><p>“Courtship is supposed to be seductive, interesting, engaging and wooing,” he said as he took her bishop.</p><p>“See! But most the guys I’ve dated aren’t interesting, or engaging, and their attempts at wooing and seduction are pitiful at best,” she sighed.</p><p>“Check,” he informed her. “But you are going on the date?”</p><p>“Can’t hurt,” she shrugged. “Check,” she informed him. “Besides, he was a nice chap, I see no harm in one date.”</p><p>“I will send Bugaloo with you,” he muttered.</p><p>“Whatever for!?”</p><p>“I do not desire to entrust you to someone untrustworthy,” he explained.</p><p>“You’re not my guardian!”</p><p>“No, I’m not, I’m your King and your friend,” he stated.</p><p>“I can’t argue the king bit,” she sighed.</p><p>“Checkmate,” he informed her.</p><p>Sarah sighed as she knocked over her king. “We are friends?”</p><p>“I would surmise as much,” he admitted as he reset the board.</p><p>“That’s good,” she decided.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Well, it’s just… we’ve never interacted outside of dreams and you tormenting me as a child until recently. I didn’t know where we stood,” she admitted.</p><p>“Do you not think we are friends?” he asked, lifting a brow at her move.</p><p>“Well, it just sort of hit me last week I thought of you as a friend, but I didn’t know what you thought of me,” she explained.</p><p>“We are friends,” he omitted. “I think of you as one of the few friends I possess,” he explained.</p><p>“I suppose as king, you wouldn’t have many,” she said humorlessly.</p><p>“One would think,” he muttered. “I am a fae of Seelie and Unseelie nature though, it scares many though I have a vast kingdom.”</p><p>“Why would it scare people?” she asked.</p><p>“I do not conform and have infinite power in a sense as well as dual natures, I have found very few limits to what I can do,” he answered.</p><p>“That’s lonely,” she decided as she took his rook.</p><p>“It is what it is,” he answered.</p><p>“Ah, like what’s said is said, and what’s done is done,” she mused.</p><p>“Exactly, I cannot undo what I am or control their reactions, so it is best to accept the reality before me and react as best as I can,” he admitted. “But as a result, I have few I would dare to call friend.”</p><p>“Then I am pleased to be friends with you, Jareth,” she informed him. “I’m not thrilled about being friends with a king though, just so we’re clear. I’m friends with Jareth, not the king.”</p><p>“Noted,” he mused with a wry smirk about his lips.</p><p>“It’s better that way,” she chuckled. “I like Jareth much better than I like the Goblin King.”</p><p>“Whyever is that?”</p><p>“The Goblin King stole my baby brother!”</p><p>“After you wished me to take him!”</p><p>“The fact stands that you stole him, and I could never be friends with a king that stole my baby brother.”</p><p>“A king could never be friends with a bratty girl who wished her brother to him,” he agreed.</p><p>“See!” she chuckled. “Check. This is why I’m friends with Jareth and not the Goblin King.”</p><p>“And this is why I am friends with Lady Sarah Williams and not the snotnosed brat you were.”</p><p>“I was never a snotnose brat!”</p><p>“Which makes the matter of you wishing your brother away infinitely worse.”</p><p>“In my defense I never actually thought it would work,” she chuckled.</p><p>“Check,” he said. “And what did you expect to happen!?”</p><p>“Nothing if I’m being honest, I was fifteen, and frustrated, I didn’t think goblins were actually going to steal my brother because I was being dramatic. Though I must admit you’re a bigger drama queen than I am.”</p><p>“I am not!”</p><p>“The lightning and glitter! The theatrics! You scared me half to death!”</p><p>“It’s in my job description?”</p><p>“Are those pants in the job description too?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Nothing!”</p><p>“What is wrong with my pants!? I’ll have you know they are extraordinarily comfortable!” he defended.</p><p>“Sure, they are,” she snorted.</p><p>“They are, and it is not like you wear them!” he sniffed.</p><p>“They aren’t the right cut for me to wear them,” she stated.</p><p>“When did women in this world start wearing pants?” he asked conversationally.</p><p>“No idea,” she admitted.</p><p>“Check,” he commented. “It’s very fetching, they should start doing it in the Underground,” he decided.</p><p>“Pervert,” she chuckled. “Checkmate.”</p><p>“Appreciating a beautiful woman and being a sexual deviant are two different things,” he assured her.</p><p>“And which are you?” she asked.</p><p>“I appreciate beauty,” he commented.</p><p>“And tormenting teenage girls,” she remarked.</p><p>“All in a day’s work, but I have a long day tomorrow and you have a date, should you not be going to your chambers?” he asked as they started their third game.</p><p>“I was in my chambers, for some reason you’re in them.”</p><p>“I’m in mine,” he corrected. “Unless…” he paused and frowned. “Oh Bloody Hell.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“The Labyrinth,” he muttered.</p><p>“What about it?”</p><p>“You’re it’s Lady and Champion.”</p><p>“So I’ve been told.”</p><p>“I’m it’s King.”</p><p>“So I’ve heard.”</p><p>“It’s reacting like a child now and throwing us together because it regards us equally.”</p><p>“You’re talking about it as if it’s alive.”</p><p>“It’s alive, and old, but young, I created it, but the magic has run rampant and become it’s own entity but with a…childish comprehension,” he explained.</p><p>“How’d it come to being alive?”</p><p>“It does what magic does, and it evolved, at one time it and I were one but now that is no longer so.”</p><p>“So, it’s like your child?”</p><p>“In simple terms, I suppose it could be regarded as such,” he agreed.</p><p>“And in complicated terms?”</p><p>“We haven’t had enough wine for that conversation, or coffee,” he decided.</p><p>She snorted a little at that declaration. “So, it’s treating us as equals, but for some reason tossed us in the same bedroom?”</p><p>“Solar, you are not in my room.”</p><p>“That’s a relief, still doesn’t explain what’s happened.”</p><p>“It’s treating you as it treats me, and these are the royal wing of my castle, it’s bending itself to put you here,” he sighed.</p><p>“Mmm, that’s different,” she sighed.</p><p>“It is its own, but it is a child’s comprehension.”</p><p>“I see, well I shall endeavor to focus on my solar rather than letting it drop me off in yours, though they are done in a similar manner.”</p><p>“I like comfort,” he answered.</p><p>“I appreciate it,” she agreed. “I just thought it’d be… messier, or more… rockstar sort of style, very showy and what not.”</p><p>He rolled his eyes. “Check. How are things going at Hogwarts?”</p><p>“Fine, I suppose,” she replied. “About this Ministry of Magic?”</p><p>“What about it?”</p><p>“What the hell is it, and why do they run everything, I know Britain isn’t America, but I didn’t think the government was this invasive!” she snapped.</p><p>“Times of fear, people do not think straight,” he admitted. “Give them hell, I will expand on it a different night,” he yawned.</p><p>“Checkmate. I’ll hold you to having this conversation on another night,” she warned.</p><p>“Rest well, my Lady,” he said as he stood, dispersing the game they had been playing.</p><p>“Sleep well Jareth,” she yawned as she went for the other door in the solar. Walking into it she was pleased that it was actually her room she was in. there was a warm tea waiting for her on her nightstand and several books.</p><p>Walking to the dresser she opened it to find her favorite Islander’s jersy for sleep and a pair of tiny running shorts. Pulling out a pair of wool socks she was very happy to collapse on her bed, braiding her hair.</p><p>It didn’t take her long to have sleep taking over as she pulled the heavy mismatched quilts over her shoulders and buried her head in her pillows.</p><hr/><p>Bill had the strangest dream, he didn’t dream lucidly often, because he always slept too hard and too deep for dreams to matter to him. But this was strange as he sat across from a terrifying man with a wild mane of feathery blond hair streaked with odd colors. Wild blue eyes were assessing him.</p><p>“So you asked my Lady on a date,” he drawled out.</p><p>“This is bloody bizarre,” he muttered. As he looked around an odd throne made from a horn of some sort. There were many strange creatures lining the room, all with glowing eyes, and nightmarish appearances.</p><p>“Yous asked for Lady, we’s say no!”</p><p>“Silence!” the man shouted. “And it’s not your decisions!” he snapped at the creatures.</p><p>“Um… this is a really weird dream, what exactly have I done?” Bill asked.</p><p>“You, you asked my Lady on a date,” the man said standing up to his full height. Bill flinched at the man’s stance then. For as slender and lean as the man was, and he was no doubt a bit shorter than Bill himself was, there was something unnerving about the man who stood there glaring down on him. The way he moved was predatory like and graceful.</p><p>“Um… no, I asked Sarah Williams on a date,” he said, feeling terrified as the man approached him.</p><p>“What is your intent with her?” the man asked dangerously as he neared Bill.</p><p>“She is… I don’t know,” he admitted feeling unnerved by the gaze he was under. The man circled him, tapping a cane on his palm as if he were thinking something over.</p><p>“If you should harm my Lady, I will be forced to take action,” he warned seriously.</p><p>“What sort of action?”</p><p>“I will be called to arms, and it will be the last thing you ever do,” he warned. “You will treat her as a goddess and queen, anything less and I will know, and you will rue the day you crossed my Lady.”</p><p>Bill bolted up in his bed in a cold sweat which had him falling back on his pillow with a low groan. He was never drinking fire whiskey before bed.</p><hr/><p>Jareth woke unhappy and uneasy about Sarah’s date. They were friends, he could not woo her, not yet still, he was uneasy about the mortal being near his Lady.</p><p>He would have extra guards on her to keep her safe, he would have to. The mortal was not a bad on, no, William Arthur Weasley was rather admirable from what Jareth had pried out of the young man’s head, but the problem was that imbecilic Light parasite. William Weasley wasn’t a threat, not to Jareth’s position in Sarah’s life, but if he was a good little soldier then he might turn on Sarah because that Light parasite told him to. That was Jareth’s worry.</p><p>“Griphook,” he called as he got out of his bed.</p><p>“Yes, majesty?” the goblin appeared then.</p><p>“Get me everything on William Arthur Weasley,” he ordered.</p><p>“Yes, majesty,” the goblin declared. “Here you are majesty.”</p><p>“I want all records about Albus Dumbledore, and I want extra guards on Sarah,” he ordered.</p><p>“Of course, majesty, here you are, majesty,” Griphook said.</p><p>Jareth nodded as he opened the file and started looking it over.</p><p>“I wish the Owl King was real to take you away!” a wish rang.</p><p>That was the first time that title had ever been called and a slow smile spread across his lips as he hurried off to do his job.</p><p>He paused when he was Above and he felt a ripple of power around him, which had him looking at the night’s sky. Gods he hoped he was wrong about the ongoing here.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="MsoNormal">Sarah’s day was spent in a sunny spot gong over the edits that David had sent her for the Bog of Eternal Stench. She had gone through pains to find a sunny spot on the moors to work, even hauling a blanket with her as well as a basket of food supplies. Mopsy had shown up around one in the afternoon with a bottle of wine that Sarah had traded out for coffee, which she was totally regretting at this point of her day. Still, she had felt productive for her day, which was saying something that she hadn’t expected in the least.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A shadow fell over her late afternoon as she was sketching her latest images for the Bog of Eternal Stench books.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Those are unusual creatures, I do not believe I have ever seen them before,” an aristocratic voice informed her. She peered up at the silhouette of a man.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s for children’s fantasy books,” she explained.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I see,” he drawled. “Lucius Malfoy,” he said as he moved to crouch beside her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah, Draco’s father,” she chuckled. “He looks a lot like you, but also like his mother,” she informed him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, I suppose he does look a lot like his mother,” Lucius offered with a fond quirk of his lips. “Whatever is a Lady, like yourself, doing out here?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Working,” she answered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He looked confounded which had her chuckling.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m a novelist for a living,” she explained.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My son’s letters said you were the Keeper of the Library here at the castle,” Lucius said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And I am,” she nodded. “The Master of the Castle is a friend of sorts, he offered me the position to be closer to my brother. But I still have contracted book deals with my agent, editor and publisher,” she explained blandly as she went back to her work on her sketches.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I see,” he said uncertainly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What brings you here, Mister Malfoy?” she asked as she tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear as she continued her work.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Business I’m afraid,” he answered stiffly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And what sort of business do you do?” she asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, odds and ends, bits of this and that,” he answered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That is not an answer,” she informed him as she worked over some area of shading, she needed to do.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But it is the answer I am willing to give,” he commented.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then I will leave you to your odds and ends, and bits of this and that,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What is this beast, I have never seen one like that?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“His name is Ludo, and he’s a rock charmer,” she answered as she worked calmly on her artwork. Children loved Ludo, and she knew if they actually met Ludo they would love him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And this one?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sir Didymus, a Knight of the Goblin King’s court,” she explained as she worked. “And the sheep dog is steed, Ambrosius,” she said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You are very talented,” he observed as he looked over the drawings. “They seem so… real,” he murmured.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thank you, and it’s best they seem… real,” she said lamely. Sarah never knew how to take her friends being thought of as fiction when they were her reality. “You know, for the children,” she explained as she shivered a bit and lifted up her drawing to the light to examine it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Bog of Eternal Stench, whyever would you name something so horrid?” he asked looking over her papers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, many reasons, mainly because the gross interest children more than nice titles,” she explained. Besides, Toby had <b><em>LOVED</em></b> the Bog of Eternal Stench when she told him about how disgusting and gross it was, of course he had been a toddler when she had told him about the bog, and anything smelly, muddy, slimy, or gooey was of the utmost interest. Sarah had applied the same theory to her children’s stories to be appealing to small children.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Appropriate,” Lucius decided.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh shit,” she muttered when she saw the time on her watch. “It was nice to see you, but I have to go,” she said as she started grabbing up her loose pages.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I see,” he said as he pulled his wand, flicking it to send all her pages into her portfolio case and then the others into folders into the portfolio again.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ok… that’s cool,” she nodded. Snatching up her hat, bag and blanket she smiled. “Thank you, pleasure to meet you properly, but I gotta go!” she said as she started hurrying for the castle. The jog into the castle she saw Mopsy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lady!” the elf called.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Hello, I know, I’m late!” she said as she continued hurrying. Mopsy grabbed her wrist, Sarah stumbled as it felt like she was inverted, twisted around and dropped like a rock. “I’m going to be sick,” she groaned as she tried to keep her stomach inside her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lady should not go,” the elf said producing a red dress as she took the hat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, I didn’t ask to go, Toby decided I would go,” she admitted as she finally sat down and took off her boots and pulled the sweater over her head before squirming out of her pants. Once she was down to her underwear and socks, she grabbed the green dress she had picked and ran to the bathroom to do her hair and cosmetics. It didn’t take her long to get her hair styled and then ran into the solar, hopping and pulling on her shoes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah?” a voice said in disbelief as she hopped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Jareth?” she said in confusion as she looked from her room to the solar then back to her room door. Jareth was in a familiar state of preparing for something, with his shirt half buttoned and he looked just as confused as he looked at his room door then her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay, I was focusing on my solar, not yours…” she muttered as she yelped and lost her balance finally.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah!?” he came over.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ow,” she muttered. He rolled his eyes as he offered her a hand up, she took it and was hoisted up so effortlessly. “What are you getting ready for?” she asked as she started pulling on her other shoe.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Arrivals,” he answered as he continued buttoning his shirt and walked away from her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good luck,” she said fixing her other shoe. “Jareth?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Am I Under or Above?” she asked as she moved her bodice to be more comfortable.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He looked out the window and lifted a brow.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m Above,” he answered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, your Labyrinth is being weird,” she decided as she grimaced and continued fixing her bodice before hurrying to grab her coat and favorite red fedora.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Undoubtedly,” he agreed. “Sarah,” he called.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah?” she turned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Come here,” he ordered reluctantly, which her walking over to him with caution. He motioned for her to turn and she did.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Your dress isn’t fully done up,” he explained. She stiffened as he did up the small hooks she hadn’t caught, his fingers were warm so near her skin. When he was done he dropped his hands.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thanks,” she chirped, hoping she kept her nervousness out of her voice before she ran to grab her coat again and pulled on her hat. Hurrying through the castle she tried not to think about Jareth’s touch.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lady Williams!” a voice called out which had her turning to see a tall gangly redheaded twins, another young man and the young woman, Miss Weasley.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Evening,” she greeted as she continued to pull on her jacket, straightening it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re going on a date with our brother,” the girl said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I do have a date, with Mister Weasley,” she agreed as she finished pulling her hair free.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Bill’s our favorite brother,” the gangly boy stated. “You hurt him,” he warned.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah, I see, so this is the family warning of sorts,” Sarah chuckled. “Mister…?” she asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ron, Ron Weasley,” he huffed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, Mister Ron, this is a date, nothing more and nothing less, but you have valiant intent for defending his honor.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Good,” the twins stated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t believe I’ve met either of you either,” she said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fred and George,” they said in unison.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A pleasure to meet all of you, but I’m late, you’ve said your piece, and I have to go!” she said as she spun on her toe and kept hurrying along. It didn’t take her long to get to the gates and saw Bill there. His long hair pulled into a small tail and a fanged earring dangling over the collar of his shirt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m sorry,” she said as she walked forward. “I didn’t mean to be late,” she admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Not a problem,” he offered with a charming smile. “I just got here myself, I was a bit busy with work.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So I wasn’t the only one who got side tracked,” she chuckled as she shoved her hands in her pockets as they fell into step.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No,” he promised. “I do have to apparate us to the date spot,” he said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sarah grimaced but accepted his offered arm. It felt like she was being inverted, by her bellybutton, yanked by a speeding train, and spun around in a fighter jet before they landed. She stumbled a few steps. “I’m going to be sick,” she muttered as she covered her mouth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sorry,” Bill said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She didn’t say anything as she leaned on the alley wall while catching her breath. “Oh boy,” she groaned rubbing her sore stomach before she pushed herself up and walked with him. “So where are we going?” she asked as she rubbed her stomach.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You are the first muggle I’ve met who handles magic so well,” Bill said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And you must know so many muggles,” she dryly retorted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t, but you are a delightful first,” he admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mmm, so where are we going?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“A French restaurant I was recommended by my coworker,” he admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That sounds delicious,” she sighed.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jareth waited until Sarah was out of the solar before he glared at the walls and felt a volatile burst of unbridled fury about her date for the first time. He threw a burst of destructive magic and snarled as he glared around the solar before he fell on the sofa and rubbed his eyes. He couldn’t be pissed at her, he couldn’t, and he wanted to be furious with her, but he couldn’t and wouldn’t be because she was Sarah, and she didn’t know.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lounging on his sofa he fought back the instinct to hunt her down and bring her back to remind her she was his equal and his alone and no other would ever be worthy of her. Not that he was worthy, but he had claimed her. Jareth trusted her to handle herself, she was Lady Sarah Williams, she thwarted him so she could no doubt manage anyone who attempted to use or manipulate her. Getting up Jareth finished doing up his shirt and paused.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t know what you are doing, but stop,” he warned the Labyrinth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He felt it shifting beneath him, and around him. “She is your Lady, not my wife,” he stated firmly as he walked out of the solar into his Underground Castle. Grabbing up a cane he walked through the castle and paused looking down at the fanfare for his parents and their families. His mother’s arrival was today; much to his people’s surprise because the invitations had only gone out earlier this week. Of course, with Uwain would be with his mother, as he Uwain was the heir to the Unseelie court; Jareth grimaced at the thought of dealing with his half-brother.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At least he didn’t have to deal with Puck yet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jareth walked through the halls to his main hall where his mother was just entering.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Mother,” he bowed slightly as Morgan le Fey walked into his main hall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Jareth, it has been too long,” she mused as she swept in. Like him, his mother was fair haired, and fair skinned, her features though were deceptively round and gentle, her eyes were what belied her dangerous Unseelie nature, they were brilliant green, almost black though with her large pupils.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It has,” he agreed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Last I saw you was when you tore us from the Above,” Uwain said. His brother, unlike him, was not of fair coloring, with dark hair and darker eyes. His features were squared and large, with a prominent nose.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Indeed,” Jareth agreed without expanding upon this.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No woman still, I see,” Morgan said as he offered her his arm.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No,” he admitted. “I will show you to your rooms,” he said as they started walking through the halls.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“How has the Labyrinth been?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Runners are plenty, and Wished Aways cared for,” he admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“When will you agree to allow my subjects to adopt the Wished Aways again.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“When I am certain they will not be eaten by gargoyles, again,” he answered through gritted teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It was one little brat,” his brother defended. “The brat would not stop crying.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“And you should have never done that,” his mother hissed furiously looking at Uwain. “Children are the most precious beings, you fool!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“When the safety of the children can be assured, I will agree to the adoptions of Wished Aways to the Seelie and Unseelie courts,” Jareth sighed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I will be happy to show your deligates about,” his mother said eagerly. “And perhaps I could see…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You are not permitted to interfere with Runs, or the Wished Aways,” he stated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But…” his mother started.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“If you should go near either I will never permit a Wished Away to the Seelie or Unseelie courts,” he stated firmly. “These are your rooms, mother. Uwaine, yours will be here,” he said as he released his mother and watched his brother stalk off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Youthful impertinence,” his mother shook his head. “I should’ve made you my heir,” she sighed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That would never have worked,” he pointed out. “I have to go,” he said as he bowed to her slightly and disappeared. He landed Above and materialized a heavy trench coat and fedora of his own. Shoving his hands in his pockets he walked over farming fields towards his once home. It did not take long for him to reach the Stonehenge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His mother was fond of this spot, it was sacred to her for some reason and he could feel the ancient magic roiling and churning here. He had not yet been born when she had erected this Stonehenge, but he knew he and his brother had been conceived here. He threw the crystal orb he had been toying with and watched it break the ruins to reveal his mother’s realm before he walked beneath the surface. It did not take him long to navigate his mother castle, she had never been one to live in ruins, she had always lived grandly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Making his ways through the castle her servants were none the wiser of his presence as he walked by toying with the crystals. He made his way into the bedrocks where the dungeons were. His mother’s pet mortals were pleading, begging, screaming for mercy, but he could not interfere as his Unseelie nature also relished in their misery. Making his way to the secret passage he felt the salt interfering with the magic flow. The iron sealing it all away. Waving his hand he walked in, the torches sprung to life as he walked into the slow steps of his mother’s cavern. The steps were large, uneven, well worn and he could smell scents of his mother being her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The blood was fresh on the walls, runes and spells repainted in the halls, the iron laced through the salt was enough to kill any normal creature. He finally made it to the heavy iron door, it was rusted over, sealed, heavy salt laying in piles around the base. Jareth waved his fingers, opening a prisoner flap on the door and peered in. The piece of his brother rested, the darkness churned and rolled around it, but still seemed dead.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Pleased that there was no change he left for the Above. Walking out of the Stonehenge he resealed the path and looked around. The cool night’s air ruffled his hair, and he closed his eyes. Letting his magic unfurl, stretch out, he felt nothing like what had torn apart his realities which had him looking over the fields. Shifting forms, he took to the skies as he flew over the landscapes.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hermione looked up at the Prefect’s meeting when Draco Malfoy and Daphne Greengrass walked in.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So we’re going to arrange patrols,” Sally started.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Actually…” Hermione cut off the Head Girl.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Great… you’re a fifth year Granger,” Graham snapped harshly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, she might have a good idea!” Terrence countered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re just saying that because she’s your house’s golden girl!” Omar snapped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So what if she is, she’s got some good ideas!” Terrence stated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What’s your idea, Hermione?” Sally asked her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Um… interhouse cooperation, while we do patrols,” she said honestly swinging her legs. She had been thinking a lot about what Sarah Williams had said to her earlier in the week, and she had noticed that the houses partnered with the houses, and they kept to themselves.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Ravenclaws Head Boy and Head Girl; Omar and Nola, as well as their Prefects Cho, Marcus, Terry, and Susan they never patrolled with other students. The Slytherins would work with Hufflepuffs if they had too, and Hermione couldn’t remember patrolling with anyone but Ron this past week.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s not a bad idea,” Gladys said. “What? I would rather try patrolling with Niles than another one with Eugene.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Hey!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“If I hear one more thing about your Fairies I will hex you!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fine, interhouse cooperation patrols,” Omar grumbled. “I’ll go with Sally, Granger you’ll go with Malfoy,” he started.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hermione looked over to Draco who sighed but seemed to be reading over the patrol route. Hermione sighed as they were released to go about their patrols. Hermione clasped her hands behind her back as she walked out of the classroom with Draco.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What Granger?” he demanded.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What?” she asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What are you up to?” he demanded lowly; his grey eyes flashed dangerously as he came to loom over, teeth flashing perilously.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Nothing!” she grounded out through clenched teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So what’s with your sudden desire to get cuddly with other houses,” he growled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What’s wrong with interhouse cooperation!?” she demanded.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Nothing, except you don’t care about other houses,” he snapped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I do!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“When you’re declaring my house evil,” he snapped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You called me mudblood first,” she retorted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“After you accused me of buying my position on the Quidditch Team!” he hissed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You did!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I did not!” he snapped as he stalked past her.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Look, Malfoy, I…” she huffed out a few curls as she came jogging up to his side. “I think we’ve never gotten off on the right foot,” she started.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He gave out a feral growl as he looked over at her, she’d have sworn he had fangs.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I would like to try again,” she sighed in defeat. “I will admit that I don’t like your dad for what he did to Dobby, and as founder and president of S.P.E.W. I will probably never like him, but… I don’t think you’re your father,” she explained. “Hermione Granger, Prefect of Gryffindor,” she offered her hand and clasped her other one in a tight fist behind her back.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You should disband S.P.E.W., they find it insulting,” he stated.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“They?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The house elves,” he clarified.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s promoting their freedom and welfare!” she defended.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Do you even understand what they are, or how their magic works or why they want to work?” he asked her blandly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So you think they should be subjugated and abused?” she countered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, and how my father treated Dobby is not how my mother and I would ever dare to treat our house elves, and you should give them rights so they don’t suffer abuse like my father did, but you should know who and what they are and why they’re so eager to serve,” he snapped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So, we’re not starting over?” she asked dryly, keeping her hand extended.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Draco Malfoy,” he replied tightly as he shook her hand. “Weasel face is not going to like our speaking.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I am my own person!” she huffed. “But no, Ron isn’t going to like us talking, nor is Harry.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then what do you want.” He grounded out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I don’t want anything! Aside from us having to work together all year in Ancient Runes, I would like for us to be on good terms!” she snapped.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Because apparently I have a broad mind but a narrow view on the world!” she huffed frustratedly. “Lady Williams has pointed out that I do not see things, and I would like to rectify that,” she explained.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Lady Williams is a very smart person,” he said softly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Are you crushing on her!?” Hermione mused.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No,” he answered flatly and started walking away. “No matter how attractive she is, she is not my type and she is not for anyone,” he explained cryptically.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I heard she has a date with Bill tonight,” she said as she fell into step with Draco. “Bill Weasley,” she clarified when Draco gave her a curious look.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m aware,” he answered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Her brother is in my house after all,” he pointed out dryly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I forgot about that,” she admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s not a bad kid, loves his sister,” Draco shrugged. “We’re rather fond of her ourselves.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“She seems… unique,” Hermione admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Terrifying really,” Draco decided.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sarah was a bit peeved seating herself at the restaurant, Bill seated himself and she had to do the same. Yes, she was a feminist and all, but good manners were something her grandmother had stressed when she was a little girl. Her grandmother, her mother’s mother, was a proper lady, and always stressed manners. There were only so many times a knuckle to the center of the back could happen for slouching before you just started sitting upright. Grandma Ava had also stressed etiquette, her grandmother had been a queen or something in another life as near as Sarah could figure.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So, Sarah,” Bill smiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Bill,” she mused as she ordered a red wine and waited for him to place his order.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Um… this,” he said awkwardly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I apologize on Toby’s behalf for putting us in this situation,” she said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, I actually did want to take you out,” he said honestly as he settled back in his seat.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, it is a delight to be here,” she mused as she folded her hands and smiled at the waiter who blushed under her gaze before he shuffled off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re just…” he started. “You are startling, beautiful, I mean you’re gorgeous before, but now,” he trailed off. “I’m just making this so much worse than it has to be,” he chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thank you, and you’re not so bad looking yourself,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Thanks,” he chuckled. “Ah, this wasn’t so awkward before,” he sighed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It wasn’t, but then that wasn’t a date,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Tell me about your family,” he decided.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“So long as you tell me about yours,” she countered coyly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Deal,” he chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My maternal great-grandparents are professors at Oxford,” she said casually. “Professor Evelyn and Professor Richard O’Connell. They were explorers in their youths, trapsing around Egypt uncovering Ancient Egypt’s history.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s amazing,” he smiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yeah, they’re, they’re something.” She chuckled. “They met in a prison in Cairo after, Gran’s brother, Jonathan had stolen an artifact from Gramps, sometime before Gramps landed in prison, he literally said ‘who’s the broad?’, stole a kiss and was hung all in the same day, only for Gran to buy his freedom and his life for them to run off on an excavation in the middle of the Egyptian desert, and they have been together ever since,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s a love story,” Bill laughed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Gramps was a forward-thinking man for the times, he didn’t want a housewife, he wanted a partner,” Sarah chuckled. “There’s this one story, with the Bembridge Scholars being curious about who, E. O’Connell was, because at that point Grandma Evy had wised up and used her marriage to her advantage, taking Gramp’s surname and just signing with her first name initial, so they came to the Lord Carnahan’s house, who was Grandma Evy’s father, Uncle Jonathan was the holder of the title at the time, and Gramps opened the door, just pulled it open and they assumed it was him, about half way through the very confusing conversation, Gramps calls from Grandma Evy and when she entered the room, and he’s liked; ‘something you need to tell me, honey?’ Gran’s like ‘No, I don’t believe so?’ real question like because they have these odd moments where they aren’t on the same page. Gramps is very calmly to this Bembridge Scholar, whom they’ve both assured me was an utter ass, it’s 1935, and Gramps, really calmly said ‘Hello, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced, I’m Rick O’Connell, and this is my wife, Doctor Evelyn Carnahan O’Connell’. Bembridge scholar fainted on the spot,” she snorted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh, Merlin’s Beard!” Bill laughed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No one took Gran seriously until she became a mysterious writer and archeologist by the name of E. O’Connell and when the world found out she was taking up more private digs, more excavations, and curating jobs than anyone else,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s amazing!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“They’re amazing,” Sarah agreed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What about your grandparents and parents?” he asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My maternal grandfather died in Korea, he was killed in action flying the injured to M.A.S.H. units, his helicopter was shot down,” she explained. “My grandmother, I don’t know much about her life before she came to America, but I think she was originally from London, I think, because she had a similar accent to most Londoners I’ve met, but she never talked about it,” Sarah said softly. “Whatever happened it tore her up deeply, but I don’t know, she was a Broadway star, and sometimes Hollywood starlet,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What is that?” he asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“She starred in plays and entertained people, she was brilliant, won all sorts of awards and stuff, she was… she was something,” Sarah admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What happened to her?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“She passed, a semi drifted into her lane, head on collision, we were told she never felt it,” Sarah explained.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s awful.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It was very hard on Toby, he was really close to Grandma Ava and really far too young to understand what had happened. He couldn’t seem to grasp that Grandma Ava went to heaven and would cry so hard for so long that she wasn’t there,” Sarah said softly. She had never been close to her grandmother, her grandmother had loved her, in that stiff upper lip British way, it was also in a classy way; a way that made Sarah so desperately believe in fairy tales and princess, as well as knights in shining armor. Grandma Ava had been the one to tell Sarah about stories of Narnia and magic. Her grandmother had also passed almost three years after Sarah had run the Labyrinth and those two years between, they had been… strange, to say the least. Her grandmother always gave her odd looks or looked ready to ask her something but wouldn’t; it would drive Sarah mad because she wanted so desperately to blurt out her truth, to demand to know if someone else had been as foolish as she. Sarah had gone so far as to reading <em>The</em> <em>Labyrinth</em> with Toby around Grandma Ava, but that never seemed to be the startle factor, which made her wonder if her grandmother had run the Labyrinth or had a different encounter of her own. Sarah had never had the chance to ask though. “My dad didn’t have any family, so when he divorced my mother it seemed like he had kept all of my mother’s family and my mother flounced off to be an actress.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Your mother must be a very good actress,” Bill decided.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“She is,” Sarah agreed. “One of the best,” she chuckled humorlessly. “Dad was a management consultant, he married Irene who was a seamstress, and eventually we moved here. Dad loved it here, loved Oxfordshire and being around Gran and Gramps, he’d have loved Hogwarts Castle too. Irene would’ve loved it so she could design fairy tale princess dresses, she used to do all my school play costumes.” She smiled a bit at the good memories she hadn’t dwelled on but then frowned a little. “And you’ve met my brother Toby.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m sorry about their passing,” Bill said softly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Enough about my family, what about yours?” she asked with a small smile.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m the eldest of seven,” he said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I met four of your siblings,” she chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ah, yes,” he laughed. “So, there’s me, Charlie, Percy, Fed, George, Ron and Ginny. Mum was pregnant with me her final year of Hogwarts, which had her family, the Prewetts cutting her off, my dad had already proposed to her though so they eloped, bought a small farm outside of Ottery St. Catchpole, and just kept adding on to the small cottage as they had us,” he smiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s cool!” Sarah grinned. “What’s it like having so many siblings?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Loud,” he answered. “Our house, it’ mostly mum’s brilliance showing, it’s the original hut that they bought, and she and dad built up, so it’s got, externally about three-four stories, but on the inside, with some of mum’s ingenuity she’s gotten it expanded so it’s six stories, and got enough room to house everyone, it even expands for guests at time, though it’s a tight squeeze. Charlie, he once brought over all his friends, and we had room to spare! There was like five of them all squeezed into the house,” he chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s amazing!” she smiled as they paused to place their orders. “What do your siblings do, the ones not in school.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well Charlie’s in Romania,” he said. “He studies dragons for a living, he decided he was going to do that since the time he could walk. All about the dragons,” he shook his head. “Mum’s worried he’ll never find a girl and settle down, but honestly, if it’s not quidditch or dragons, Charlie isn’t interested.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fair,” Sarah sighed. “Irene drove me insane with all her set up date attemps.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“My mum has tried that on me,” he shuddered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Must be a mom thing,” Sarah grimaced.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Must be,” he agreed. “Then there’s Percy,” he grimaced at the name of his brother.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, Perce… he’s not the bad sort,” he said levelly. “But he’s very driven and selfish, and he’s rather thoughtless at times regarding us. He broke mum’s heart after he graduated, he took an internship with Cornelius Fudge, it was just handed to him.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Is that…?” she started uncertain how to express it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s not good,” he decided. “Not really,” he sighed. “See, Fudge is horrid, but Percy, Percy wants to be that; to be Minister. He’s got big dreams, but I don’t think he’s got the actual talent or skill to obtain them,” he admitted. “It’s strange really, I never would have thought him worth much notice for a Minister of Magic internship.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Why?” Sarah asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t get me wrong, Percy’s smart, but our dad is head of a useless, and not respected Department of the Ministry, and mum’s… mum, she gave up all chances of being a Healer at St. Mungo’s to be our mum,” he explained. “She loves it, by the way, being a mum, she’s a brilliant healer though, knows more ways to heal anything and everything without much care or worry. So we’re not the idea family for a social climber and for some reason Percy has become a social climber.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’s a shame,” Sarah admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I just don’t know how he got the Ministry internship he got, that would normally be an internship for someone like Ron’s friend Granger, or someone.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Maybe he stood out and you just never saw it,” she offered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Maybe, I don’t know. I’m not close to him and if I see him again I’ll punch his face for making mum cry,” he nodded.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fair enough,” she agreed as they were served appetizers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Fred and George are brilliant, jokesters, so watch out for them,” he snickered. “They stole all the toilet seats from Hogwarts their first year, mum was so confused and livid receiving all these owls carrying toilet seats. Took Hogwarts a whole semester to realize that my baby brothers were transfiguring the toilet seats and mailing them home. Mum was mad, but proud, I was laughing too hard to take it serious,” he admitted.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oh gods, if Toby,” she shook her head as she laughed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then there’s Ron,” Bill said. “He’s brilliant, I don’t think anyone can see it though at times, he’s so shy and so quiet, and a bit vain, but…” he shrugged.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Brilliant how?” Sarah asked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He’s a chess prodigy, I swear,” Bill said solemnly. “I taught him nothing, no one did, no one in the family played it. He was destroying adults at the local park without much effort when he was five, five!, and he would just sit and play, for hours. Finally, a friend of dad’s sat him down and taught him Wizard’s Chess, and I don’t know, it just clicked for him. He’s a wicked strategist, wicked, he’ll be ahead of an opponent by a good five to fifteen steps when he gets out of his own way; I get it, he’s fifteen and he thinks he can run the world, but if he slowed down and stepped out of his own way, he’d see how brilliant he is.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, he’s a teenager,” Sarah pointed out dryly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That is true,” Bill omitted. “When I was fifteen I was trying to break curses, and battle the forces of evil, so I get it. I also see it, he’s the sixth child of seven, no one… no one really paid him much thought, he’s a middle child, and after mum having to always wrangle Fred and George, or Gin, I see it, I see why he isn’t sure of himself, why he’s scared, why being best friends with the most famous wizard of our generation has him feeling overlooked, or unheard and unseen. But I think he could be the best of us, if he got out of his own way.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“At fifteen that’s hard to do,” she said softly. It had taken Jareth for her to learn that she needed to get out of her own way, that she needed to grow up, be responsible, be kind, be patient, be ruthless, be decisive, be confident, but not cocky.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I suppose it is,” Bill agreed. “I don’t know, I just, I look at him and I see so much potential, his own greatness, and it seems lost on him and I want to take him and shake some sense in him until he sees it.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“That’d never work,” Sarah stated. “He’ll see it, himself, or he won’t, only time will tell, but he’ll have to figure it out on his own, he’ll have to go through his trials and tribulations to get there too, and that’s not bad.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You sound like you speak from experience,” he chuckled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I do,” she nodded. “So, about your sister?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Ginny will take over the world, she’s like mum but with more fire and temper, it’s rather terrifying really,” he chuckled. “She picked up a bludgers’ bat when she was three or so, I had stupidly released some bludgers for Charlie and I to play Quidditch; mum didn’t know, I had smuggled them out of Hogwarts home, and she picked that bat up, swung as hard as toddler could, and smacked the shit out of that bludger that would’ve and could’ve knocked out her two front teeth with ease. Never been more intimidated in my life,” he snickered. “Gin’s a sweet girl, but damn is she scary.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The date proceeded from there, Sarah laughed at some of his stories of Curse Breaking before he had transferred to a desk. He asked her about her life in America and now, and how University had worked. Sarah had been happy to talk to him about it until their deserts were coming.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Excuse me, I think I need to use the bathroom,” she said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Certainly,” Bill chuckled. Getting up she walked for the loo, and saw Bugaloo bouncing ahead of her, looking around she paused outside the girl’s restroom.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“It’s the girls’ room, Bugaloo,” she hissed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes Lady,” the goblin preened.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You’re not going in there; I can go alone!” she hissed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’s protect you though!” he protested.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Then you can stand sentry, but you’re not going in there with me,” she hissed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But Lady!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No buts!” she whispered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Very well Lady, but Kingy be mad if I’s don’t go with you!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“What he doesn’t know will not harm him,” she countered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Kingy know everything!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He doesn’t need to know about my restroom habits!” she countered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’s be here, Lady not come out in fives I go in!” he decided.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, you’re not coming in!” she stated as she walked in and flipped the lock. She didn’t think it’d actually keep the goblin out, but the message was there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sarah took care of herself and walked out towards the sink to wash her hands, it didn’t take long for her to relax as she primped a little. Once she was satisfied she decided to continue the date.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sarah sighed as she walked out and saw Bugaloo.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’s didn’t call for Kingy,” the goblin assured her, torn between pride over his feat and misery.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shaking her head she walked back to the restaurant in time to see Bill paying for the dinner and desert. Settling in her seat she smiled as she reached over for her wine.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The scent of leather, spice, and some earthy as well as like the ozone, she couldn’t resist it as she brought the glass to her lips. It tasted like peaches, and something else, something more, something dangerous, which gave her a thrilling shudder racing down her spine and clenching her thighs. Her heart raced a little and she giggled a bit as she swore internally at the sudden rush of thoughts revolving around Jareth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Would you mind telling me about how a muggle, like yourself won the goblins?” Bill asked charmingly then.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I think I have to go,” she mused rather dreamily. She felt like dancing, and singing, gods, she wanted him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Go?” Bill looked confused.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes, terribly sorry, I need to go,” she stood as she grabbed her hat and jacket.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah!?” he called out but she didn’t hear him as she walked out onto the busy street of London. Walking slowly and without thought she made it to the alley when she felt this overwhelming need race through her body which had her whimpering as she paused to hold herself up against an alley wall.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I wish the Goblin King would take me, right now!” she called out desperately as she squeezed her eyes shut and bit her lip.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Oi, lookie here boys! A free bird, meandering in our territory!” a voice called out.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Quite a looker too,” another voice said.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Well, Sarah, precious thing, I can say you have the worst timing,” a seductive, beautiful voice said and she opened her eyes with a smile. Gods he looked so beautiful, so stunning, and she smiled dreamily past the men surrounding her. There was a war cry, she saw Bugaloo zip by, crashing into the men like a force unseen, but Sarah was already reaching for Jareth as she stumbled. She tripped in her heels as she caught his shoulders and pressed up against his chest. Her eyes flicked to his mouth, the dreams she had had revolving around that mouth, it was so sinfully beautiful!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I know you want me,” she whispered. “I need you too,” she pleaded.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Love, not that I don’t enjoy… this,” Jareth said carefully, his hands touching her arms. “But this is rather… un-you.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She giggled. “Un-you isn’t a word,” she sang.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m King, I’m making it a word,” he stated. She leaned forward to kiss him, as she had wanted to do since she was fifteen. It was unexpected, the moment her lips brushed his it was like fire had erupted in her veins and body, having her fingers curling into his shirt. He pushed her back.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah!?”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Jareth, I need you,” she whispered as she stumbled towards him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah what is…” he stopped when her lips were near his. “Love potion,” he whispered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I love you,” she giggled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah!” he hissed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Take me, please, I’m yours, please, please, I’m always yours,” she whispered as she pulled herself up to wrap her arms around his shoulders.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You don’t…” he paused as he seemed to be talking to someone else. She pressed her lips to his jaw then as she trailed them over his pulse, he tasted different, unique, she liked it. Arms tightened around her and she giggled as she pressed her lips to the corner of his own as she smiled.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I love you,” she giggled dreamily.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I…” he seemed at loss then. “You desire me love?” he whispered then, changing the tone to seductive and purring.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Yes,” she whimpered as she felt a thrill run through her and she smiled. “I love your eyes, so beautiful.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ll give you all you desire,” he murmured as he grabbed tightly. She laughed as they seemed to be free falling. Jareth dropped her on the bed. “Wait here, I’ll be back, precious thing,” he said softly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’ll be ready!” she laughed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He smiled tightly as he left her.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="MsoNormal">Bill hadn’t wanted to slip her the Amortenia, but Dumbledore had delivered it to him this morning, with explicit instructions on use, Bill had followed those to the letter. He was surprised, befuddled, confounded, and dumbfounded though when Sarah had downed her whole glass of wine before smiling dreamily and all but floating off. Amortenia should’ve made her fall for him, not have her walking off, unless…</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His heart dropped, she loved someone else.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before he could process that realization a very commanding blond man sat across from him with mismatched eyes and a lethal edge about him.</p>
<hr/>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jareth saw her pulling off her dress with care and gingerly as she dropped her jacket on the floor and tossed the fedora on the chair.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Love Potion, a parasite’s concoction, he was surprised he hadn’t noticed it before she had kissed him. Her pupils were blown wide and the dreamy, drug like haze she was in was all reminiscent of her being under the influence. His weakness was her, her beauty, her style, her scent, her taste, everything about her was addicting, temptation, she had always been his temptation. And then she was delectably wrapped and throwing herself at his feet.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It had taken a lot of self-control not to just take what he desired.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jareth changed personas to be Jared King as he stormed to the restaurant she had been at with that parasite.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The parasite was sitting there dumbfounded, Jareth tossed his hat down and took the seat Sarah occupied.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The Lady is none the wiser to what has occurred, but you and I are aware, you tell me what you have given her, and why,” Jareth stated as he glared at the startled young man there.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m sorry, what?” he sputtered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“The potion you slipped her, which one is it?” Jareth snarled through gritted teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I…”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jareth threw a crystal as time slowed and stopped and he dropped the façade as he came to loom over the young man, who cowered before him now.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I command you tell me!” he thundered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He said to give her this!” the parasite fumbled as he produced a vial. Snatching it up Jareth sniffed it carefully, scenting past the scent that was so clearly Sarah.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Who?” he snarled as his fist tightened on the vial.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Dumbledore, he wants to know about her vault!” the parasite whimpered. “Please…! Don’t…!”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Don’t what?” Jareth snarled lowly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I wasn’t going to hurt her!” the parasite promised.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You will remember nothing of what has just occurred,” Jareth strangled out. “And you will work for me now, if anything should ever harm my Lady Sarah Williams, I will end your life.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“He just wants her vault,” the parasite whimpered meekly. “He wants the goblins to align with him, she was just a mission.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You have threatened and harmed my Lady,” Jareth snarled. “Until she is well and decides what to do with you, I cannot be called to arms, but I will grant all your nightmares to pass in the time it takes her to recover!” he snapped as he stalked off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rematerializing in his Labyrinth he threw his fury through a spell which shattered the reality of his room before he got to working on Sarah’s antidote. Being a master of time it was simple enough to accelerate the concoction’s antidote before he walked back to his room and found her on his bed, naked.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“You were gone so long,” she whined.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Sarah,” he said softly. “Love, I need you to drink this,” he said softly.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Later, I need you,” she whispered as she pulled herself to her knees to come forward for a kiss.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“No, Sarah, now, please, precious thing, it will make you feel better,” he promised.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But I feel fine!” she whined.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“I’m afraid you’re not,” he countered as he caught her, stifling a groan as her soft body pressed against his own so surely.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“But I am,” she whispered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Drink this and then decide,” he offered.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Will you kiss me if I do?” she giggled with that dreamy smile on her lips.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Whatever you desire,” he promised.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Okay,” she said and snatched the vial of antidote from him before knocking it back with swift ease. He kissed her brow as he held her close.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Rest,” he whispered the spell which had her going limp with a moan. He was careful putting her in bed and pulling the covers over her.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah moaned low as she shifted on the bed, feeling like she had a harpoon being driven through her head which had her moaning lowly in agony as she rubbed her brow. Second thing she noticed was that she felt like she was wrapped in silk or fine satin, which had her frowning as she dared to crack an eye open. The room was decorated like hers which had her frowning a little as she looked around, light hit her eye which had her groaning as she curled up tightly and pulled the covers over her head. Now she got a good look down which had her tensing violently as she bolted up to look around the room, gripping the sheets tightly as she looked around wildly.</p><p>Sarah had stories from university where women would be brutalized and not remember, and she was terrified. Stiffly she wrapped the sheet around her as she slipped from the bed, crouching low as she looked around. This wasn’t her room! She didn’t like this…</p><p>Her dress was on the floor, along with her jacket, but her fedora on the seat. Now she noticed her heels, like she had walked out of them. The door suddenly opened which had her hiding behind the bed as she looked around for a weapon.</p><p>“Precious thing,” Jareth called blandly as he walked to the bed and put down a tray. “You have terrible timing,” he stated.</p><p>“What happened?”</p><p>“Drink this,” he ordered.</p><p>“What is it?” she asked as she pulled herself across the bed, slithering forward as adrenaline faded knowing she was safe with Jareth.</p><p>“A cure. Just drink it,” he ordered.</p><p>“If this is hair of the dog, I will murder you,” she warned.</p><p>“Drink it,” he stated as he sat, sprawling over his seat as he seemed to conjure reading material, tea floating by his head.</p><p>“What happened?” she grimaced as she pulled her legs up on the bed and firmly wrapped the sheet around her, arranging it to cover all her parts. The concoction he had handed her spelled foul, and rather like grass.</p><p>“You, precious thing, were drugged with the most powerful love potion, known as Amortentia,” he stated.</p><p>“Fuck,” she hissed and grimaced as she knocked the concoction back, wanting to gag violently.</p><p>“Yes,” he agreed.</p><p>“What’s Amortentia?” she asked as she accepted the coffee, he floated to her. Creamer floated by next which she accepted gratefully. “And I don’t remember the peach giving me this headache,” she omitted.</p><p>“The peach was merely a diversion constructed off your fantasies of the time, you were a girl becoming a woman,” he stated. “It was designed to ensnare you, to entice you, but never harm you. With the peach, unless you desired what was happening, it would not happen. It was also designed to stall you, it’s your inner most desires of the age.”</p><p>“So, my desires couldn’t happen without my subconscious consent?” she clarified.</p><p>“Essentially,” he agreed. “It would not happen unless you desired it, your shattering of your inner most desires was you growing up; you learned responsibility and priorities, which no child possesses, in my world you were a woman,” he stated. “But nothing could be done in that scenario without your desire.”</p><p>“That’s not reassuring, but alright,” she grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.</p><p>“You were safe, precious, you were safe in my Labyrinth and during your Run. It is my job to keep Runners and the Labyrinth safe. Nothing is actually there to harm the Runner, it is to teach,” he said levelly.</p><p>“Then what happened?” she grumbled as she sipped her coffee.</p><p>“You were dosed with Amortentia,” he said. “It is the most powerful love potion parasites possess and can create.”</p><p>“It’s a real thing?”</p><p>“Yes,” he answered. “But it does not create love as you or I would define love, merely an imitation of a powerful infatuation between giver and receiver of the potion,” he explained.</p><p>“Last thing I remember was arguing with Bugaloo that I didn’t need a guard in the women’s restroom,” she admitted then started to pale drastically.</p><p>“He has informed me, and I must insist you let him accompany you everywhere, as well as watch your meals from now on apparently. He was near inconsolable for failing his Lady, but pleased I rescued you,” he explained.</p><p>“Rescue?”</p><p>“I collected you and brought you here, you are untouched,” he explained for her.</p><p>“Then why am I naked?”</p><p>“You were very infatuated with myself and eager to get me into bed,” he answered.</p><p>Sarah gagged on her coffee as she stared at him. He seemed undaunted by what he had said as he read over something and circled a few things, making notes as he sipped his tea.</p><p>“We didn’t…?” she clarified.</p><p>“As I informed you earlier, I collected you, brought you here, and you remain untouched,” he explained for her again.</p><p>“Just checking.”</p><p>“Minus where I had to touch you to keep you upright and safe,” he explained.</p><p>“That’s not what scared me, what scares me is I woke up naked, in not my bed, with no recollection on how I got here!” she snapped in frustration which had his head snapping up sharply.</p><p>“If you desire to see the memories of last night, I will permit you to see mine, I did not know Amortentia would remove memories,” he stated.</p><p>“What does it normally do?” she huffed.</p><p>“It normally creates a deep illusion and infatuation which to an onlooker would appear to be love and devotion, it enslaves the receiver to the giver,” he explained. “Most of the time, the receiver is unaware of the altered state of mind but after the affects have worn off, they usually return to normal with full awareness of what has transpired. Repeated, long term, doses are dangerous as it will erode the mind to being a mindless drone, until weaned off the potion which is extremely dangerous and difficult to do because the user, while remembering all that transpired, is now dependent on the rush of dopamine, also their body has ceased producing dopamine with the dangerous influxes of Amortentia, leading the receiver to fall into dangerous depressions which will lead to death at times. I’ve never heard of the potion removing awareness though, on the receiver, if you desire to see last night, I will give it to you.”</p><p>“And I was…” she started and then her eyes narrowed dangerously on him. “For you!?”</p><p>“I did not give you <em>that</em>,” he reassured her. “The parasite did that.”</p><p>“Bill?” she stammered as she tightened her grip on the sheet.</p><p>“The parasite,” he nodded.</p><p>“Then… why was I… for you?” she questioned.</p><p>“I believe the Labyrinth’s interference was at play there, it might also be what removed your memories,” he explained.</p><p>“Can I have a shirt or something before we continue this talk?”</p><p>“Certainly,” he nodded as he materialized one for her. Sara pulled it on and noted that it was one of his, it had to be, because it was the ridiculous sort, but so comfortable.</p><p>“The Labyrinth?” she questioned as she slipped from the bed, the shirt fell to her thighs.</p><p>“Yes, as I’ve informed you it does possess a consciousness of it’s own, with a child like comprehension,” he said as he moved the seat beside him for her to sit. She slowly sat, pleased nothing ached or hurt, which was reassuring. “It’s ancient, powerful magic.”</p><p>“And it protected me?”</p><p>“I believe it did what it could to protect you,” he explained.</p><p>“And what was that?”</p><p>“Instead of being besotted and under the throes of that parasite it made you infatuated with me,” he said. “You summoned me with a wish, which was very startling, love, and I believe that was the Labyrinth’s doing.”</p><p>“It made the drug not work right?”</p><p>“I believe so, it could not prevent you from ingesting it, so it redirected it,” he explained. “With me you would obtain what you desire because I can only act upon true desires. You desired to be safe, I brought you here, you desired to be in control of yourself, so I obtained the antidote, you desired security, so I stayed,” he explained. “I did nothing you did not desire.”</p><p>“What did the drug make me…?” she started.</p><p>“You desired my… affections, but as you and I know, that is not what you truly desire,” he said stiffly.</p><p>“I’m sorry then, for… that, but thank you for coming to save me,” she earnestly said.</p><p>“I’d always come for you, you have to but ask,” he reminded her.</p><p>“You… truly, Jareth, thank you,” she murmured gently. “At university, I knew girls, and horrible things would happen to them, horrid, they couldn’t… and it was so terrifying because it could be anyone, predators do not care, and when you’re render helpless to the mercies of others, and unaware of it, they can do horrible, horrible things,” she whispered as she drew her knee up to hug it while tucking her other leg beneath her.</p><p>“Did?”</p><p>“Not to me,” she admitted softly. “I was… I was lucky,” she sighed gently as she rested her chin on her knee. “I was… after Hoggle and the peach, I was always wary of that, I didn’t accept drinks from people I didn’t know, I didn’t let my drink out of my sight, at night I always walked swiftly and aware of what was around me, I took self-defense classes when I was twenty. But I was aware that I was powerless if a predator decided I was next, and it terrified me. My flatmate, Lily Collins, wasn’t so lucky,” Sarah explained. “Lily and I looked a lot alike, she was just, more pixie like, very petite, so tiny too, and long black hair with big brown eyes, she was a lovely person too. We would play a joke where we would fake being twin sisters separated at birth, used to get us a lot of free drinks. She just wanted to celebrate her birthday, and there were five of us, I went to the pub with them, but I left early because I had tests in the morning, she and her best friend went to the hospital after…, she didn’t make it, and the men were never caught. Her best friend moved back to Ireland with her family and I never heard from the other two girls,” she said softly. “Margret, Lily's best friend, calls me from time to time thinking I’m her, that I’m Lily,” she murmured. “She got hit in the head so hard, and traumatized from that night so horribly, she’s reverted to an almost childlike state, she asks me to join her for tea parties and sleep overs.”</p><p>“Do you…?” he started.</p><p>“Yeah, I do indulge her, I go often, she says I make the fairies happy, and happy fairies protect her,” Sarah explained. “She’s also read all the <em>Bog of Eternal Stench</em> books, loves them.”</p><p>“I see,” he nodded.</p><p>“So truly Jareth, thank you for coming for me last night,” she nodded. “It wasn’t like the peach.”</p><p>“No, it wasn’t,” he agreed. “If it should sooth you, his intentions were merely under orders of that Headmaster, the parasite had no intentions for anything more unsavory than obtaining your Gringotts vault records and an alliance with the goblins.”</p><p>“Bill?”</p><p>“Yes, yes, Bill. He had no intentions of anything unsavory towards you,” he assured her. “He thinks your rather beautiful, but far too intimidating to desire beyond friendship.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>“It is the Headmaster who ordered him to give you the love potion, and it was the Headmaster who encouraged Bill to do whatever means necessary,” Jareth informed her. “Bill had no intention of anything beyond asking you, Dumbledore was going to push for more, Bill had no intention of anything more.”</p><p>“It’s a small comfort,” she admitted as she rubbed her eyes. “And it’s good to know that with the peach you’d have never harmed me,” she informed him.</p><p>“I realize now that it was… tasteless, I have not done that distraction on Runners since you,” he informed her.</p><p>“That’s… good,” she muttered. “Admittedly, at the time, I didn’t know I should be mad about you giving me a magic peach,” she chuckled.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“Thank you again, for you know, saving me,” she smiled weakly. “I should go get ready for my day.”</p><p>“What would you like as retribution upon the parasites?” he asked as she got up. “I can call my armies to arms, destroy them for you,” he started.</p><p>“No,” she cut him off. “Thank you, but no. What Bill did, while horrible, was no worse than what you made Hoggle do. However, Dumbledore…” she trailed off. She wanted Dumbledore dealt with, she wanted the man to either properly teach unity and give a level playing field to all the kids or to admit his bias and have him removed. “Bog him.”</p><p>“As you wish, my Lady,” he chuckled.</p><p>“And nightmares, horrible, horrendous nightmares, of whatever you desire to teach, he shouldn’t just blindly drug people because he decided he wants to stick his nose where it does not belong,” she stated before walking away for her own room. In her own room she slid to the ground and trembled violently.</p><p>As a teenager, she hadn’t fully understood what Jareth had done to her, no idea, but as she had grown up, she had accepted she was never in danger with Jareth, he was safe. Wild, unpredictable, dangerous but completely safe. Jareth’s task was to win his game at whatever the cost, but he couldn’t win the game if his opponents were in actual peril, or actually died. He also was a thousand times worse on abusers than he was on siblings annoyed and wishing away a sibling. Jareth wasn’t a monster, he was a fae which made him unpredictable, and his moods dictated his intentions for his prey.</p><p>As an adult she had come to understand what Jareth had done, and when she applied the lesson of the peach to the real world… it terrified her. That lesson knocked the wind out of her, it was like a sucker punch to the gut and the rug being pulled out from under her. If a predator of a human nature did what Jareth had, to her, she would be worse of and vulnerable.</p><p>Sarah had long since accepted the biological fact a woman was weaker than a man, it was biological. Even if she stood at five foot seven, and was in decent shape, she wasn’t physically powerful as a man her size. She would rely on surprise and cheap shots for eyes and groins and insteps to escape, she knew the elbow was the hardest point on the human body and a hit from her elbow in a nose might be enough to startle an attacker and she could escape. Sarah accepted that, she accepted her best chance for survival if attacked was escape, and she was alright with that. But she had never dared to put herself in a situation to be drugged and vulnerable to anyone since Jareth.</p><hr/><p>Jareth waited until she was out of his room before he slumped back in his seat and dragged a hand through his hair. He had never thought about what mortals could and would do to one another, he knew on some level just how horrid mortals could be. Afterall, some Wished Aways were the result of unspeakable relations on girls too young to comprehend what had happened, or too scared, or just too destroyed by the pain inflicted upon them. There were abused children he had taken in, Wished Away, either by themselves or relatives or even friends. He had even lost some children who were too damaged to be saved from the abuses they had suffered.</p><p>He had never actively thought about the horrors mortals inflicted upon themselves though, for the reason of: it was against fae nature. Fae valued balance, equality, it was why mates were partners, why children were valued, why power was equally held between pairs, it was about balance. To hear what Sarah had feared, it had startled him, it also went against his nature not to right it, not to inflict vengeance upon those who had upset and threatened her. Getting up he dispersed his work as he walked towards the balcony of his private rooms looking out on his Labyrinth.</p><p>Reacting swiftly he took off from the balcony and flew through the between of Above and the Underground. Breaking the barrier he soared over the clear skies as he looked over his castle here. The Labyrinth here groaned and shifted under his power as he flew around it, then tucked his wings as he plummeted towards the castle and unfurled them to sweep through the halls. Children gasped as they moved out of his way. House elves materialized bowing as he flew through the castle, twisting through the halls he deftly navigated his way around to come to his old study and office. Landing he materialized as Jareth King and waved his hand as he walked forward.</p><p>The soddy old fool sat at his desk with the parasite from the night before, and with a dark vampiric creature.</p><p>“You cannot be here!” Dumbledore bellowed as Jareth swept forward.</p><p>“Sit Down,” he snarled violently as he slammed his staff down and the Labyrinth rippled around him, blocking paintings from here, and suspending time and reality as he forced the three men to sit.</p><p>“I cannot call my armies to arms because that is not what my Lady wishes,” Jareth stated stalking forward, Bill and the vampiric man had the good sense to flinch and tremble as he came nearer. “However, the Lady has spoken and what’s said is said, what’s done is done,” he growled.</p><p>“Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as so ordered by my Lady and only equal you will be Bogged, and given the nightmares of the many you so endanger,” he stated. “You are charged with endangering her ladyship.”</p><p>“You have no authority!” Albus pulled his wand.</p><p>Jareth snorted recognizing the wand he had fashioned for those three foolish challengers who had come to his Labyrinth. Jareth opened his hand as the wand reappeared in his hand.</p><p>“I had been looking for that for so long,” he mused dryly. “And for your information, I have every authority!”</p><p>“How…?” Dumbledore sputtered and Jareth tapped his staff as the Labyrinth eagerly pulled them to the Bog of Eternal Stench, he kept the old headmaster suspended above it.</p><p>“I Am Master Of The Castle And Grounds,” he growled dangerously. “And You Tried To Harm What Is Mine. Should you attempt to harm my Lady again, the entire force I possess will bear down upon you,” he stated harshly as he released his grip on the old man and let him fall with a loud splash into the waters.</p><p>Turning Jareth walked through the Labyrinth to his study. The wand was a light weight in his hand, and he shook his head as he tossed it into his vault, he had created the wand for one of three bothers who had thought they had bested him, really he had just sealed their damned fates. Between the stone which returned ghosts of memories to people, and an invisibility which eventually fade the wearer from the realm of the living to the between where they would be doomed to live an eternity.</p><p>With it sealed away again he left to continue his hunt for the parts of his brother.</p><p>Sarah was safe for the moment, and that was his priority. Now he would continue his hunt.</p><hr/><p>“Brother, brother,” he rasped as he moved in his new body. “I wonder if you’re up for our new game,” he murmured to himself as he removed his sight from his brother.</p><p>“We should not worry about him, my lord, he’s but a myth and fable,” the meak soul he had taken into his possession rasped.</p><p>“Fool is he who discounts the legends and lore of the books of old,” he chuckled. “My brother is so much more terrifying than a mere fable.”</p><p>“How do you mean?”</p><p>“King of Goblins, King of Death and Dreams, High Prince of the Seelie, High Prince of the Unseelie, Master of Fate, Keeper of Wishes, Commander of the Labyrinth, Master of Time, Destroyer of Realities, Separator of the Realms, Conqueror of the Above and the Underground, these are not mere legends, he inspired them,” he chuckled. “My big brother is not to be crossed or underestimated.”</p><p>“Tales we tell children to behave,” Voldemort whispered in his mind’s ear.</p><p>“All tales are founded in a reality of truth and lessons taught by those who experience them,” he retorted. “Let us have some fun with my brother, the wolf tires of slumber.”</p><p>“Master?”</p><p>“Let us see you handle my pet, Big Brother,” he chuckled as they materialized where the dwarves had forged the impossible things to bind his child and pet.</p><p>Two massive red eyes snapped open with reptilian slits.</p><p>“Hello my child,” he greeted. “Let us play with your uncle, Jareth has missed you so,” he said as the chains of nonexistent things broke and the massive wolf slowly stood.</p><p>“I command you to seek his mate and Lady, Lady Sarah Williams, Champion of the Labyrinth, Queen of Goblins, Weaver of Dreams and Wishes,” he whispered.</p><p>“Master,” Voldemort whispered. “This is not what I desired.”</p><p>“You desired to command Magic, and that only happens if my brother is dead,” he responded.</p><p>The massive wolf shook it’s ghostly pelt of death before leaping to disappear into the shadow.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Sarah sat at the head table of Great Hall reading over the edits she and David were negotiating as she nibbled on the French toast Mopsy had prepared for her. It had been nearly a month since Dumbledore’s abrupt absence and McGonagall’s formal appointment as Headmistress of the school. Dumbledore’s abrupt leave was sighted to be a personal emergency which required his long, immediate attention; Sarah took that to mean he hadn’t figured out how to get rid of the smell of the Bog. Umbridge had taken glee of appointing herself Deputy Headmistress, with authority from the Minister of Magic.</p><p>There had been some changes, immediately in McGonagall’s care, she had eliminated table dividers, urging interhouse mingling through school projects and activities. Sarah had been startled when she had been consulted for ideas, Sarah had immediately urged the arts; drama club, art classes, music performances. Next, after talking to the Weasley children, Draco, Daphne, and Blaise, she had encouraged more teams for quidditch, more inclusive for children of all ages and houses; she was more than happy to supply the brooms as needed, Toby had demanded hockey or lacrosse or baseball also be introduced, so she had been consulting other muggle children about activities.</p><p>It had been the most immediate change Sarah saw with the first, second and third years who readily intermingled with one other. Older students were wary of this, but they were also excited to join the clubs Sarah had organized. Most the Head Boys and Head Girls had taken over running the clubs rather smoothly, and excitedly.</p><p>Things with Bill were rocky at best, she was wary to trust him, and Bugaloo had taken to perching himself in her hair and sniffing all her foods for her when he was near. Things with his siblings though were a different matter. Fred and George Weasley; who were rather eager to find a laugh, or make a laugh, they were both wicked smart, and rather easily distracted; they reminded her of the goblins actually. For whatever reason, the twins were enamored with her; she couldn’t figure out what she had done beyond making silly faces at the Start of the Year Feast. Sarah had also befriended Ron over a game of chess one day in the library when he had been playing himself, she had accidentally started playing him when she thought he could use a challenge. Ginny Weasley had also become rather friendly with Sarah when Sarah had apparently stopped the bullying of one Luna Lovegood who was Ginny’s best friend in another house. However, Sarah’s strain with each Weasley came in the form of one Bill Weasley whom she didn’t trust but didn’t hold a grudge against; she was rather indifferent to him with trying to figure out how she should be with him.</p><p>Part of her was hurt about what he had done, but like with Hoggle, she had forgiven that transgression; however, she was not a child anymore and did not view what he had done so lightly. So, she was left not knowing how to treat him. And she did not know if his siblings knew or if his family knew what Dumbledore had ordered from him and what he had done.</p><p>But as September was coming to a close and October was rolling in with a steady, bone settling chill, there was something different afoot.</p><p>She didn’t know what, but there was.</p><p>“Lady Williams!” a voice called out which had her slowly tearing her eyes from her latest book edits to look up to see Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley jogging up the steps to the head table.</p><p>“Good morning,” she yawned turning her papers over as she picked up her coffee and settled back in the seat. “What’s up?”</p><p>“We, well I, was wondering about Samhain,” Hermione said.</p><p>“A Gaelic festival marking the end of harvest season, the start of the ‘Dark Half’ of the year, and the beginning of winter. This is when the Unseelie Courts convene, they are the Winter and Autumn Courts and viewed as the malevolent side of the Fae people. It is also the marker of when the veil between worlds is weakest and believed the dead can visit the living at this time,” she explained. “What about it?”</p><p>“Well, we just…” Hermione started.</p><p>“She was wondering if you would work on bringing a school event around for the day,” Ron filled in reluctantly.</p><p>“What do you mean?” Sarah asked as she sipped her coffee.</p><p>“You got us all these fun activities, and ‘Mione says muggle schools do things like dances and such,” Ron explained nervously.</p><p>“Oh, yes, many normal schools I went to had dances for students, in New York the big ones were Homecoming, which would happen about the same time as Halloween, maybe a little sooner, there was also Winter Prom and Prom, which was the huge, end of the year formal event for upper classmen. There were other dances too, for small holidays like Valentines Day and such,” she shrugged.</p><p>“Well, I was thinking, a lot of children from muggle families know Halloween, and a lot of the Irish and Scottish kids know Samhain, and Wizard used to have a big celebration at Samhain, and I was thinking maybe we could?”</p><p>“I don’t see why not, but why ask me?” Sarah yawned as she kept her coffee out of Bugaloo’s reach.</p><p>“Cause no one’s introduced new things to Hogwarts until you,” Ron muttered. Hermione elbowed him. “What!? It’s true! Mum said that a lot of fun things were stopped during the First Wizarding War!” he huffed rubbing his ribs.</p><p>“When was that?” Sarah asked.</p><p>“Sometime in the twenties to the mid-forties, it was when Gellert Grindelwald was rising to power, Dumbledore thought for the safety of students to remove events which would be targeted by extremists,” Ron explained.</p><p>Sarah snorted at that. “That is living in fear, and yes, I will talk with McGonagall about organizing it. I’m certain my Employer would also be happy to aid us if needed in funding such an event,” she decided.</p><p>“Lady Williams, how’d you get to knowing so much about this stuff?” Ron asked her shyly.</p><p>“I read, a lot,” she answered. “I’ve had a vested interest in mythology, for, oh, many years. So I would study it, and if you study mythology you’ll end up studying religions and societies which created the myths, and go from there. It builds on itself,” she smiled a bit.</p><p>“Well, Fae aren’t real,” Ron said.</p><p>“Perhaps, it’s about where you’re looking,” she said encouragingly. “If this,” she gestured to the grand castle that was around them and felt the Labyrinth preening under her attention. “Exists, not necessarily within the muggle world but rather beside it, then imagine what resides Above, or Under, or in the Other,” she offered. “It’s all about perception, Mister Weasley.”</p><p>“So you believe in the Fae?” Hermione remarked incredulity.</p><p>“I don’t see why not when I reside in a castle in the middle of the Scottish Highlands which teaches young witches and wizards about their magic and there’s all manner of magical creatures residing in the forest and lake around,” she shrugged. “I have no reason not to believe in the Fae in a world like this. I’ll arrange something for Samhain though,” she promised and waved the kids off as she lifted her edits again with a massive yawn.</p><p>“Kingy born on Samhain!” Bugaloo announced as he popped free of her hair.</p><p>“Is that so?” she inquired softly into her coffee.</p><p>“Yes Lady!”</p><p>“Mmm,” she hummed. She’d talk to Sir Didymus and Hoggle about that, perhaps she should do something for Jareth for his birthday because he had done so much for her lately. She wasn’t sure what a mortal could get an immortal Fae but she was willing to give it a shot.</p><p>“Celebrations of the ancient ways is prohibited, by the Ministry of Magic,” a pert voice tutted behind her which had Bugaloo growling on her shoulder and Sarah sighing as she lowered her papers to look at the obnoxious toad.</p><p>“Good morning Miss Umbridge, how are you?”</p><p>“You have no authority throw a celebration for these students,” Umbridge huffed.</p><p>“Oh, well, I’m so sorry to hear that, I will be throwing a private celebrate, with the Master of the Castle, and invite the children, best dress required,” she chuckled.</p><p>“You can’t do that!” Umbridge shrieked.</p><p>“Do tone down the hysterics, I have yet to have my third cup of coffee and am not ready to manage hysterics yet,” she sighed as she rubbed her temple. “And I will be celebrating Samhain, it’s my friend’s birthday, I’ll just leave the event open for the students to attend as they please,” she shrugged. “It is a private event and I may invite whomever I desire,” she shrugged.</p><p>“You cannot!” Umbridge bellowed which silenced the Great Hall as tired, small eyes of children landed on Sarah. Sarah raised a brow at Umbridge. “I forbid it!”</p><p>“I do not believe you have the ability to forbid anything,” Sarah said as she lounged back in her seat. “Only Headmistress McGonagall would have that power, and the Master of this Castle, and he has not forbidden anything I’m aware of, and same for Headmistress McGonagall,” Sarah stated.</p><p>“I have forbidden nothing,” the stern Scotswoman stated walking forward.</p><p>“Ah, lovely to see you, McGonagall. How are you this morning?” Sarah yawned.</p><p>“I am very well. How are you, Sarah?”</p><p>“Lovely, though I must admit I am going cross eyed trying to read David’s handwriting,” Sarah sighed.</p><p>“It should be a simpler matter given how much you read the First Year essays,” McGonagall chuckled.</p><p>“One would think, but I think he wrote it in gibberish,” she mused.</p><p>“What have I not forbidden?”</p><p>“Oh, Samhain celebrations for the Ancient Runes students, Mister Weasley wanted to know if it could be a school event,” she explained.</p><p>“Oh my,” McGonagall blinked. “It has been a long time since Hogwarts had celebrated Samhain, I do not believe they celebrated it in my time at the school!” she mused. “Oh, what a wonderful idea, Lady Williams!”</p><p>“You should thank Miss Granger and Mister Weasley, and I’m sure a few other Ancient Runes kids are in on the idea, but those two were the ones who were brave enough to ask me without my three cups of coffee,” she chuckled.</p><p>“I will, and I will talk to Professor Babbling about this, oh, this will be lovely!” McGonagall chuckled.</p><p>“And it’s forbidden!” Umbridge shrieked.</p><p>“Oh hush you, it is not,” McGonagall declared harshly. “I’ll speak with you later, Sarah.”</p><p>“I’m here when you need me,” she waved off and sipped her coffee, seeing Umbridge turn an ungodly shade of purple she smirked.</p><p>“This will not end here,” Umbridge hissed. “Cornelius will hear of this!”</p><p>“Tell him Lady Sarah Williams says hello and if he should ever grow that set of balls you claim he possess he is free to attempt to exude his authority over this castle and these children,” she stated. Losing her appetite as Umbridge stalked off she sighed. “It’s all yours Bugaloo,” she offered.</p><p>The goblin was quick to devour it as Mopsy appeared.</p><p>“Lady desire more coffee!?” she asked eagerly.</p><p>“Not at this moment Mopsy, but I would love a walking companion later,” she smiled at the elf.</p><p>“Yes Lady!” the elf giggled as she bowed and collected the plate.</p><p>“Thank you!” she called out as the elf disappeared in a swirl.</p><p>“Lady very good to us,” Bugaloo hummed.</p><p>“I try to be,” she muttered as she frowned at some of David’s notes. “I’m half tempted to call him and demand he write in block letters! This is ridiculous!” she snapped as she got up.</p><p>“Sarah!” Toby shouted as he came barrelling at her.</p><p>“Morning Toby,” she held her coffee safely out of his path.</p><p>“You gotta come! Now!” he huffed as he started pushing her waist.</p><p>“Whatever for!”</p><p>“Come on!” he huffed.</p><p>“I can’t!” she gasped dramatically. “Gravity is increasing!”</p><p>“No it’s not! Come ON!” he grumbled.</p><p>“Yes it is, same thing happened just the other day,” she retorted.</p><p>“Move your fat butt!” he ordered as he shoved her harder which had her dropping all her weight on his shoving body. “SARAH!”</p><p>“I told you,” she stated with a straight face while Bugaloo snickered.</p><p>“Come on!” he huffed, undettered as he grabbed her and pulled her harder.</p><p>“Alright, alright, stop pulling, you’re going to spill my coffee,” she huffed.</p><p>“Hurry up!” he ordered.</p><p>“When did you get so impatient!?” she asked as she sipped her coffee.</p><p>“This is important and cool, hurry up!” he huffed.</p><p>“Do you really think my butt looks fat?” she asked.</p><p>“SARAH!” he whined.</p><p>She rolled her eyes as she started walking with him. They wound their way through the school to the grassy fields and he smiled. “Look!” he pointed. She blinked as she saw an entire herd of centaurs running towards the school.</p><p>“Oh my,” she blinked a few times rapidly.</p><p>“They’re so cool,” he whispered.</p><p>“They’re very cool,” she agreed with a smile though that disappeared as Bugaloo, Bugsy, Little Toby, and Goob materialized, growling and puffing themselves up as the centaurs came closer. The herd was nearing when Sarah pulled Toby behind her, the leader came to a heavy stop and looked down at her. The leader, she was assuming he was the leader, towered over her, was a black stallion, with long curly black hair which fell to about his waist, his chest was bare and his face harsh. The ears were what struck Sarah, they were like horse ears without fur.</p><p>“I seek an audience with Lady Sarah Williams,” the leader said as he shifted a bit, foot to foot to get comfortable.</p><p>“I’d be her,” she answered.</p><p>“I’ve come to request an audience.”</p><p>“I see, and what may I call you?” she asked him.</p><p>“I am known as Oreius,” he informed her with a low bow.</p><p>“A pleasure to meet you,” she bowed in turn. “This is my little brother Toby,” she introduced as he hugged her waist and peered at the centaurs.</p><p>“An honor,” he bowed to Toby slightly, less than he had for her.</p><p>“Nice to meet you too,” Toby whispered shyly.</p><p>“Toby, you have classes, I’ll see you tonight,” she promised as she ruffled his hair, which had him nodding before jogging off for the school. She smiled at him as she motioned for Little Toby and Goob to follow him, waiting until Toby slipped into the school she turned back to the Centaurs.</p><p>“What is this about?” she asked.</p><p>“You have the air of a Queen, like your grandmother,” he chuckled.</p><p>“My grandmother?” Sarah chuckled.</p><p>“Yes, High Queen of Narnia,” he explained. “May we speak where we will not be overheard?” he said.</p><p>“As long as I am returned for evening meal,” she stressed.</p><p>“Of course,” he promised and offered her a hand.</p><p>Accepting she found herself hoisted onto his back. “Forgive me, but I’ve never ridden a centaur, or horse,” she said as she struggled for balance.</p><p>“You may hug my waist, my Lady,” he said.</p><p>“Thank you!” she gasped as she hugged him and all but plastered herself to his back.</p><p>“Ease up a little bit, little one,” he chuckled. “I will not let you fall,” he promised. Turning he started trotting swiftly and took to a canter down the steep of the hill before breaking into a gallop as he and his herd hit the forest edge.</p><p>“Hang on, my Lady,” he ordered.</p><p>“Christ!” she yelped as he leapt over obstacles, she tried to move with him as best as she could but felt helpless as she bounced along rhythmically.</p><p>It felt like a bit of a run before they reached wherever it was the centaurs were taking her and he helped her swing down. She propped herself on a heavy stone as she tried to regain her legs.</p><p>“You did well, for a two leg,” he chuckled.</p><p>“Admittedly that was not as terrifying as Johnny’s motorcycle,” she sighed.</p><p>“He picked well,” Oreius muttered.</p><p>“Christ, that was terrifying,” she murmured to herself. Composing herself she stood. “What can I do for you?” she asked. “And for the record, my grandmother was named Ava Wood, she was an actress, like my mother, not a queen of any sort, she was London.”</p><p>“She was High Queen Susan, when I served her and her siblings,” he said.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“It was many years ago, a different lifetime, before we aligned with the Goblin King to keep our lands safe,” he said softly.</p><p>“That’s…” she shook her head. She could never say it was impossible, she had run the impossible and won, and her Grandmother had told her stories of a far-off magical land known as Narnia when she was but a child. “You said Narnia?”</p><p>“Yes, my Lady,” he answered.</p><p>“Very well, she told me stories of Narnia,” she sighed.</p><p>“It is very beautiful, perhaps I shall take you there, for you are it’s Princess,” he offered.</p><p>“Perhaps, but not right now,” she chuckled. “What can I help you with, you wanted an audience.”</p><p>“Yes, we did,” he agreed as he started moving, Sarah walked with him. He was so tall it was unsettling, but she wouldn’t be intimidated by his natural stance, especially not with him leaning over to speak with her. “There are many of us whom would like to see a Princess of Narnia again, as well as speak to you,” he said.</p><p>“I’m not a princess,” she warned. “I accept the title Lady with the greatest distaste, but I can’t get the goblins to stop that, I will not accept the title Princess, it’s not happening,” she warned.</p><p>“Very well,” he chuckled.</p><p>“Now, what is this about?” she asked calmly.</p><p>“We have watched the stars, for they are ours to watch,” he explained softly. “And we saw something which requires our immediate action.”</p><p>“Astrology, you study Astrology, correct?” she asked.</p><p>“Yes, my Lady,” he nodded.</p><p>“What did you see?” she asked.</p><p>“Your doom, and the return of the end,” he answered.</p><p>“I see,” she nodded. She accepted his hand as he hoisted her up onto a ledge, so they were a bit more equal in talks. “The return of the end is a strange thing to see exclusive to my doom,” she remarked.</p><p>“You are our Lady,” he said simply. “Whether you are a Princess of Narnia or the Lady of the Labyrinth, you are whom we follow,” he stated. “We have foreseen the return of an evil so great it destroyed the worlds as we knew it, for our King separated the realms, the Above, the Between, the Beside, the Under and the Other, it was a long and bloody battle which destroyed many.”</p><p>“Wait, the Goblin King, he… he separated everything?” she stammered.</p><p>“In a battle against his brother,” Oreius nodded to her.</p><p>“I… damn,” she muttered.</p><p>“He is Fae, last of his kind, but not the only,” he said. “Our King was sired in a Beltane ritual, born during Samhain, his mother, High Queen of the Unseelie, his father High King of the Seelie, he is the first-born son of both courts, and High Prince of both. Where many of the Fae are powerful enough for strong illusions, or changing and altering magic, he is the only one found powerful enough to create his own magic, to conjure things, to completely alter one thing from another, he is Master of Time and Dreams, and renown as Death when provoked. His power is unlike anything ever witnessed,” Oreius explained. “Only his brother was said to rival him.”</p><p>“Alright,” she nodded. “Who’s his brother?”</p><p>“Beings like our King are ancient, my Lady, timeless, they obtain many names and titles.”</p><p>“So I’ve been told,” she remarked. Jareth had commented he had not changed his name since his nephew’s wife had named him, and he had remarked casually about his mother and father adopting different names over time. “What name did his brother adopt?”</p><p>“His brother adopted the name Loki,” Oreius informed her.</p><p>“Wait, Norse God of Mischief, Loki?” she stammered.</p><p>“Yes,” he nodded.</p><p>“That… that makes a lot of sense actually,” she sighed. “And how is this tied to my doom and the end?” she asked.</p><p>“The Goblin King’s brother will return, and he will come for you,” Oreius said.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“If you fall, our king will fall.”</p><p>She bit her lip, so she didn’t scream at the centaur and counted to ten before she spoke again. “I will informed him of this,” she said.</p><p>“We have already sent word,” Oreius stated.</p><p>“I see, well, I will speak with him about it, and we will decide what to do from there,” she offered.</p><p>“That is wise, most deny their destinies and fates,” he explained.</p><p>“I have found, in history, those who fight to deny fate usually end up sealing it rather thoroughly,” she remarked. Remembering all of the Greek Tragedies and Shakespearean plays she had studied at university.</p><p>“Your grandmother’s younger brother was like that,” he chuckled.</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“King Edmund the Just, he was very contemplating young man,” he said. “Very studious, and quiet, but very patient and just.”</p><p>“I see.”</p><p>“He believed that when one fights their fate, they seal it,” Oreius explained.</p><p>“There’s plenty of literature proving it,” she shrugged. “Thank you for informing me of this, though there isn’t much that can be done about it until it should pass.”</p><p>“Wise words,” a new voice startled her as she yelped and slipped off the ledge she was on. Oreius caught her and carefully put her on her feet again. “My apologies, my Lady,” the creature said. He was tall, slim build, long platinum hair and bright blue eyes as he bowed to her.</p><p>“I really should be paying more attention in the Labyrinth,” she chuckled shyly as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her jeans. “We haven’t been introduced.”</p><p>“True, but I know so much about you, my Lady,” he chuckled. “I believe mortals know me as Thranduil in this day in age,” he said.</p><p>“Oh, you’re! Oh my,” she giggled. “I love all of Tolkien’s works!” she chuckled. “Are you an Elf? Oh god, sorry, that’s rude!” she admonished herself.</p><p>Thranduil’s eyes were alight with amusement as he walked towards her.</p><p>“Not at all,” he assured her.</p><p>“Do you really have scars on your face from dragon’s fire?” she asked</p><p>“Yes, I do,” he nodded slowly.</p><p>“That must hurt,” she grimaced. “I always wondered what liberties Tolkien took with his books since the Goblin King told me he visited your part of the Labyrinth. I did wonder about that one in particular, but it seemed like such a personal and gruesome detail that it could either be true or false.”</p><p>“It is true,” he said solemnly.</p><p>“I’m…” she started.</p><p>“I know who you are, Lady Williams,” he cut her off. “It is a pleasure to meet you in the flesh,” he said as he took her hand and raised it to his lips.</p><p>She smiled broadly then.</p><p>“I see why he’s so taken with you,” Thranduil mused.</p><p>“I beat him,” she stated.</p><p>“And <strong><em>no one</em></strong> ever has,” he chuckled. “I will watch the Lady for now, Oreius, and you will return her, for now there are matters Lady Williams and I should discuss.”</p><p>“Yes, my lord,” the centaur bowed as he trotted off.</p><p>“He’s a good man, great warrior, he was a part of the King’s guard before the fall of Narnia,” Thranduil explained.</p><p>“He said he knew my grandmother,” Sarah shrugged.</p><p>“Very possible, Narnia was always ruled by humans, their lion preferred humans,” Thranduil said. “Come,” he said and offered her his elbow.</p><p>“What are we discussing?”</p><p>“I was informed just a few minutes ago by a certain house elf you will be celebrating Samhain in the Castle Above, and as that is our King’s birth, I believe a good surprise is needed for him,” Thranduil explained. “Though I did not know Oreius would be informing you of what he and his herd foresaw. I only just escaped the Mabon Celebrations to speak with you about Samhain.”</p><p>“Oh, he was just telling me my doom was tied to the end,” she shrugged nonchalantly.</p><p>“You and he are remarkably similar about matters of fate, it’s rather fascinating,” Thranduil commented with wonder.</p><p>“I just don’t find a point in stressing what I possess no control over,” she explained honestly.</p><p>“So, does he,” Thranduil hummed. “But about Samhain, I would prefer it if you and I were to arrange the party, as a surprise for his Majesty.”</p><p>“I don’t know if that’s wise,” she drawled out.</p><p>“Whyever not?”</p><p>“You could be an enemy of his, or unhappy with his recent decrees, or just dislike him, and I’d rather not have a party spoiled because of that,” she answered. “I do consider him one of my four truest and most reliable of friends and I’d rather not have someone using me and my plans to get to him, it’s not right or very fair. But given his stance on fairness, one which I’m adopting, I’ll just stick to it wouldn’t be right.”</p><p>“I see, he chose well,” Thranduil chuckled. “Very well, I am Lord Albiorix of the Wood, Lady Sarah, I am his Majesty’s closest friend and advisor. I give you my true name and swear my loyalty, again, to the Royal house of the Labyrinth, and seek to serve our Lady,” he said with a low, sweeping bow. Sarah glanced upwards as the forest rumbled and she could feel the Labyrinth shifting and humming rather happily around her as birds cried out from the skies.</p><p>“I accept, Lord Albiorix,” she said cautiously.</p><p>“Lovely,” he smiled as he stood. “But perhaps, first, a visit to the Underground is in order,” he said and flicked his wrist which had Sarah looking down as she was shoved into a black, flowing skirt of a form fitting dress, which was with a white top and green embroidered accented leaves of some sort.</p><p>“Hey now… I didn’t!” she started.</p><p>“Marvelous! He’ll be pleased,” Alboirix declared and snapped his fingers.</p><hr/><p>Five days into Mabon celebrations and Jareth was done. There were four more days to go, but he was seriously contemplating the merits of fast-forwarding time to escape this party. If any of his sisters tried, one more time to introduce him to a ‘nice spring fae’ he was going to bog them. He would too, he hadn’t bogged anyone recently, but he was getting tempted.</p><p>Before Sarah he’d have enjoyed the women and men and the attention, he had had a healthy sexual appetite, but since Sarah, he swore if he got introduced to one more fae he was bogging the entire party. This was worse than when all his goblins had let loose a bunch of chickens in his castle! That had taken years to clean up, and he still hated roosters.</p><p>“There’s my son,” a voice that he had been avoiding bellowed which had him groaning. He was going to need a fucking keg of wine, not a goblet.</p><p>Turning he balefully looked upon Oberon waltzing up to him. Jareth was wondering if it was possible for him to disappear or escape right about now, but from the look of his father he knew it wasn’t.</p><p>“This is a beautiful Mabon celebration,” his father beamed happily. “Tanaquill said that you had done a wonderful preparation!”</p><p>“What do you want?” Jareth sighed tiredly. Where the hell was Albiorix? He was supposed to be running interference between Jareth and his family!</p><p>“What makes you think I desire anything beyond spending time with my child?” Oberon asked dryly.</p><p>“Because you’re you,” he snarled lowly.</p><p>“I’m here to speak to you about Wished Away Adoptions, if you’re going to allow the Unseelie to have access to them then I must insist upon my court having first picks,” he started.</p><p>“I’m not allowing adoptions of Wished Aways!” he snapped. “To either Seelie or Unseelie!”</p><p>“Very well, then the second order of business, I desire to offer a candidate for the title Goblin Queen,” Oberon started. He started rambling on about the finer qualities of the fae he was proposing but Jareth tuned him out as he started looking around for an escape. She just appeared in his sight then with wide startled green eyes, and a bewildered expression. Then she saw him and the bewildered look turned to livid as she started to stalk towards him, Jareth started backing away instinctively and ducked a serving platter, ignoring his father’s shouts for his return.</p><p>“You,” she snarled as she shoved a finger at his nose.</p><p>“I nothing!” he promised.</p><p>“Send me back, right now!” she ordered.</p><p>“I didn’t do this!” he defended as he caught a passing goblet.</p><p>“I don’t care, send me back!” she ordered as she folded her arms and narrowed her eyes on him.</p><p>“I can’t send you back if I didn’t bring you here!”</p><p>“I don’t believe that for a second,” she huffed.</p><p>“Have some wine,” he shoved the goblet at her.</p><p>“I am not drinking elven wine,” she stated putting it back on the serving platter.</p><p>“How’d you get here! Better, who brought you here!” he demanded.</p><p>“I was asked to talk with the centaurs, Orieus, and he told me my end was tied to your doom, and so on, and then there was a blond, pointy eared bastard named Alboirix who appeared to talk to me and then he snapped his fingers and poof! I’m in a dress and I’m here, now send me back!” she seethed.</p><p>“I’d love to,” he assured her. “But I can’t!”</p><p>“Why not!”</p><p>“Because I didn’t bring you here and you didn’t come on your own accord, Alboirix…” Jareth stopped when he saw his sister nearing him. Waving his hand he had a mask on Sarah’s face. “Come, dance with me,” he said.</p><p>“I don’t…”</p><p>“Now,” he grounded out through gritted teeth, she twisted around to look behind her but he caught her and pulled her along, spinning her into position and guiding her along.</p><p>“I can’t return what I did not take,” he said softly as he lead her. Sarah naturally fit in his arms, he was a bit startled realizing that. As a young woman she had been a bit smaller, a little short and a little more unsure of herself, but now, she was poised and confident and it made for a different dance partner. She was light on her toes and moved with ease with him, she trusted him to guide her and that thought was a bit intoxicating for him. For his kind this kind of dance was only for mated pairs, for only mated pairs trusted each other like this.</p><p>“I have to go back, I have things I have to do today,” she stated.</p><p>“What things?”</p><p>“Well, for one I have to call David and get him to rewrite his edits in a script I can bloody read!” she grounded out in annoyance. He spun her out with ease and brought her back. “And for another, Toby’s birthday the first week of October and I need to call Grandma Evy and Gramps about gifts, and celebration work. Not to mention I have a writing club I’m running at Hogwarts now that I have to be there for, also I have essays to grade because I started helping Severus with his class load on grading. Mainly First and Second year essays, but it’s only because I’ve grasped the basic concepts of potion making,” she explained.</p><p>“Very busy,” he agreed.</p><p>“And I have tea with Hoggle, Ludo and Sir Didymus tomorrow,” she admitted.</p><p>“They will be thrilled,” he chuckled.</p><p>“I’m kind of worried about Hoggle’s home made brew he’s bringing, but he’s assured me it won’t melt my throat this time, he’s gotten the right flavor to alcohol ratio,” she said. “So, I do need to head back,” she sighed.</p><p>“Yes and you’ll be going back, when we find Albiorix,” he agreed.</p><p>“How’s Dumbledore?” she asked.</p><p>“Still trying to rid himself of the bog smell,” Jareth admitted. He had bogged the mortal, dropped him back in his office where the old fool had attempted all manners of ridding himself of the smell, only to find nothing work.</p><p>“Good. How have you been, I haven’t seen you in a while?”</p><p>“Busy,” he admitted. He spun the out of the castle dances and into the Labyrinth where a hedge shut behind them. “No one will disturb us here,” he sighed as he relaxed removing her mask. Though he knew his subjects all but worshipped Sarah he didn’t know how his father’s or mother’s subjects would react. “I apologize for the impromptu dance, precious thing, but my sisters…” he shuddered.</p><p>“You have sisters?”</p><p>“Yes, and they’re all nightmares,” he sighed.</p><p>“Can’t be worse than you,” she decided.</p><p>“They’ve been trying to set me up!”</p><p>“And that’s a bad thing?”</p><p>“It is!”</p><p>“I don’t see how, you’re a King, not bad to look at, rather enjoyable company when you’re not being insufferable, dramatic at times, and overzealous too, highly competitive, and have a good singing voice,” she pointed out.</p><p>“Fae mate once and it’s for life,” he explained to his mate. The irony wasn’t lost on him, but he couldn’t have anyone finding out about her or her finding out about their link until later. Until she wanted him; her dose of love potion had given him small hopes that perhaps an eternity of friendship wasn’t all he was doomed to.</p><p>“Mate?”</p><p>“Not in terms of sexual conquests, but mate, as in union,” he explained. “It’s more than marriage, less than soul mate.”</p><p>“Ah, so you have to select with care,” she deduced.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“I see why you wouldn’t want a sibling setting that up,” she decided.</p><p>“Thank you, precious thing,” he chuckled. They walked in silence for a long time, he offered her a hand, she gathered up her skirts, kicked off her shoes and accepted his hand as they walked.</p><p>“What have you really been doing?”</p><p>“Whatever do you mean?”</p><p>“You have made your distaste for your family well known Jareth, so what’s with the party?”</p><p>“It was a distraction,” he admitted to her. “To hunt down my brother’s pieces.”</p><p>“Oh?”</p><p>“My mother stored some, my father stored other parts, and I kept the rest,” he explained. “I wanted to be sure I was right about what was happening rather than just assume, because when I eliminated the improbable, I was left with the impossible,” he sighed.</p><p>“And when all that’s left is the impossible, then it’s probable,” she finished.</p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>“And what are your findings?” she asked him.</p><p>“It’s probable that a missing part of my brother has been found by the parasites Above,” he sighed.</p><p>“What does that mean for us?” she asked.</p><p>“It means he’s going to come, and there will be no stopping him until I tear him apart, again,” he murmured softly. He could still remember the first time he had done that and tearing apart all the magic and worlds to separate his brother’s influences and life from the lives of the worlds. It had been brutal, it had been bloody, it had nearly killed him, and he had been the only one able to do it. The taste of silver was still on his tongue, and the black blood which painted the fields of many realms.</p><p>“Do you… do you want to talk about it?” she asked hesitantly.</p><p>“I do not desire to talk about what was done, it is done, and I did it.”</p><p>“Talking about it helps sometimes,” she offered with a squeeze of her hand.</p><p>“I tore him apart,” he stated firmly. “I tore him limb from limb, I eviscerated him, spread his entrails over the stones, poisoned him with iron and trapped him salt, painted fields in his blood. Talking about it will not change what was done or how I live with it,” he said softly.</p><p>“That must have been hard,” she murmured.</p><p>He looked over at her and saw no revulsion or disgust in those cruel green eyes, they were instead very understanding and empathetic.</p><p>“It was destroy him or destroy everything, and after what he did to Helga and his own son, I would not let him destroy everything. Everything was far more beautiful and interesting than he could ever comprehend,” he said softly.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I can’t imagine if I had to chose between everything and Toby.”</p><p>“Greater good does come into play, precious thing, it just doesn’t make it easy.”</p><p>“Well, if that were the case, then it would’ve been your parents, or your other siblings to handle him, not you,” she point out. “The world isn’t perfect or fair,” she murmured.</p><p>“No, it is not,” he agreed.</p><p>“Why did he want to destroy everything?”</p><p>“Because he could,” he answered honestly. Something had broken in his brother, something had snapped, he had broken beyond what even Unseelie were or would do, he had been vicious, unstoppable, he had raised armies in his name, made deals, sought after destroying and dividing everything. Jareth had barely stopped him, it was too little too late for his family, but he could keep his brother from destroying other families.</p><p>Sarah said nothing as she squeezed his hand and they walked on.</p><p>“I will begin the hunt for my brother, Above,” he explained.</p><p>“I see,” she nodded.</p><p>“Perhaps I will reside with you while I hunt,” he mused.</p><p>“Not happening, you bed stealing King,” she warned. “I like my bed, I like my pillows and my blankets, I’m not sharing, and you have all this!” she gestured around her to the Labyrinth.</p><p>“Fair point,” he chuckled as he leaned on the railing. Sarah leaned on a post as they both watched the Labyrinth move and shift.</p><p>“How many Runners do you have?” she asked softly.</p><p>“Currently, eight,” he answered. “Two will be out of time in an hour, they have not even reached the gate, three are in the oubliette, one will be offered sanctuary, and the other two are nearing the bog,” he explained.</p><p>“Sanctuary?”</p><p>“A young child as badly abused as the Wished Away,” he explained. “Sometimes it is better they never leave,” he murmured.</p><p>“No child should suffer,” she murmured.</p><p>“But they do,” he replied.</p><p>“That’s life,” she admitted.</p><p>“Life will give you everything you desire, but first it shall break you down to make you strong,” he stated.</p><p>“Can’t disagree with that,” she admitted. “Now, about sending me back?”</p><p>“I’ll get Albiorix,” he said as he stood. “It was a delight to see you, precious.”</p><p>“I look forward to our game,” she replied. Jareth followed impulse as he traced her cheek before walking back into the party. The Labyrinth hummed and wrapped itself happily and securely around Sarah as the ultimate protection.</p><p>“Your Majesty,” a voice drawled behind him.</p><p>“Send her back,” he grounded out between gritted teeth.</p><p>“Did you not enjoy seeing our Lady? Your Subjects were excited about the dance between you two,” Albiorix informed him.</p><p>“She cannot stay here!” he hissed. “Not with them present, and she doesn’t know, she can’t stay. Take. Her. Back. Now. Albiorix.” He grounded this out in frustration.</p><p>“I’m simply reminding my King of our Lady,” Albiorix snarled back. “We do not desire a Seelie or Unseelie Queen, when we possess one, and this is a reminder to that affect.”</p><p>“And when Oberon and Morgan la Fey begin prying into our affairs about her? A mortal who possess no magic of her own to protect her?” he asked.</p><p>“You do not know what magic she possesses,” Albiorix pointed out.</p><p>“Whatever she does or does not possess has not manifested in a way to be of use to her, offensive or defensively,” he stated. “Send her back, now.”</p><p>“Very well, but you cannot keep her from us forever, my King,” he warned.</p><p>Jareth rubbed his brow as they both walked out to the Labyrinth where he had left Sarah. She was standing in his gardens, negotiating with a flock of pixies who had started tugging on her hair and skirts.</p><p>“Leave,” he waved his hands and watched them disperse.</p><p>“Thanks,” she gasped. “And you, you do not just get to poof people wherever you desire because you can!” she snapped walking for Albiorix. Jareth caught her waist before she could get too close. “Send me back, exactly where you had taken me from!” she snapped</p><p>“She should’ve been a fae,” Albiorix muttered.</p><p>“I cannot blame her for specifics with this,” he said as he released her waist. “And no tricks Albiorix,” he warned.</p><p>“Yes my King,” he bowed lowly and snapped his fingers. Sarah disappeared in a flash of light and was gone which had him breathing easier as he walked towards his friend.</p><hr/><p>The first month of Hogwarts was such a dizzying affair that Hermione felt like she hadn’t had a chance to catch her breath. Ancient Runes had delved deep and fast into ancient pagan religious beliefs and practices, with their correlation to ancient magic practices as a powerful society. Her project with Malfoy was focused specifically on the lore of the Goblin King, which was utterly fascinating, it seemed like such an unbelievable myth but also something more. Lore depicted the King as an owl, or a monster, there seemed to be no true depiction of him; and the goblins who followed him were monstrous and nightmarish too. It was fascinating.</p><p>Hermione was sitting with Ron in the library doing her homework calmly when Harry appeared.</p><p>“She was taken by the centaurs,” Harry announced as he slammed his bag down and sat across from them.</p><p>“Who was?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Sarah Williams,” he whispered.</p><p>“Mate, she’s not evil,” Ron groaned. Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry’s glare then. “What!? She’s not.”</p><p>“Then why does Dumbledore disappear a week after she arrives?”</p><p>“He had an emergency Harry,” Hermione sighed. Dumbledore’s abrupt absence from the school after the first week of school though had sent Harry on obsessing about Lady Sarah Williams. Harry believed that Lady Williams wasn’t some muggle, but rather a dangerous, dark witch and supporter of Voldemort, Hermione hadn’t been able to dissuade Harry of that idea since she was busy. But he had been obsessively following her around when he hadn’t had class.</p><p>“But he would’ve said something,” Harry insisted.</p><p>“Perhaps it has to do with the Order,” Ron offered softly.</p><p>“I think she vanished him, Sirius hasn’t heard from Dumbledore,” Harry whispered.</p><p>“Harry, I doubt she’s evil,” Hermione whispered. “She’s just a muggle, a strange one but a muggle all the same.”</p><p>“But think about it, Dumbledore disappears after she arrives, she must be tied to evil, and she works for the Master of the Castle, something no one has ever heard of!” he laid out.</p><p>“Hogwarts is old, mate, perhaps there is a legal master of the castle and grounds,” Ron shrugged. “What? Dad has been looking into it for Dumbledore!”</p><p>“You two are impossible,” Hermione rolled her eyes.</p><p>“No, I don’t think she’s evil,” Ron promised. “Just strange. Like Loony Lovegood!”</p><p>“Ron!”</p><p>“What? Lovegood is strange, and a bit loony,” he shrugged as he continued his homework.</p><p>“This is serious!” Harry snapped as he slammed his fist on the table.</p><p>“What is?”</p><p>“She’s evil and she’s recruiting magical creatures!” Harry hissed.</p><p>“She is not!”</p><p>“The centaurs took her off, and let her ride them!”</p><p>“So!? Firenze let you rice him your first year when he was saving you from Voldemort!” Ron snapped. “It’s rare that they respect someone and trust them enough to do such an act.”</p><p>Hermione blinked owlishly at Ron then. “I pay attention in class,” he shrugged.</p><p>“Ron’s right, it’s not that unique of a thing Harry,” Hermione sighed. “And her brother is very sweet, he’s gotten all those other first years playing on the east field,” she explained.</p><p>“I’m telling you there’s something not right about her!” Harry hissed.</p><p>“Alright Harry,” Hermione surrendered. “What do you want to do about it?”</p><p>“’Mione!”</p><p>“It’s the fastest way for him to get over his obsession,” she whispered. Harry was like a dog with a bone once he decided he was right, and he would just drag her and Ron into whatever trouble he found.</p><p>“We’re going to have to trap her,” Harry decided.</p><p>“I’m not attacking a teacher!” Hermione shrieked.</p><p>“Shush!” Madame Pince hissed through the stacks of books.</p><p>“What about some Veritaserum? Snape’s been brewing loads of it with the Sixth Years,” Ron offered tiredly.</p><p>“I’ll get some, we slip it in her coffee,” Hermione sighed.</p><p>“Brilliant!” Harry beamed. “We’ll find out what she did to Dumbledore!” He was up and bounding out of the library which had Hermione sighing.</p><p>“Bill said she was nice, merciful even for something he did,” Ron sighed.</p><p>“What does that mean?” Hermione asked.</p><p>“Dunno, he will not expand on it, just that he shouldn’t have, and he only says the blond, Jared King, he’s terrifying in the flesh and protective of Lady Williams,” Ron answered.</p><p>“Great,” Hermione sighed. “We should still help him so he doesn’t accidentally kill her or something,” she sighed.</p><p>“Agreed,” Ron muttered.</p><p>“Ron?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“What’s the Goblin King?”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“The Goblin King.”</p><p>“Oh! I know him,” Ron said peering at an illustration in her book. “Mum used to use him as a way to keep us in check when we were little ones,” he chuckled.</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yeah, you know; ‘Go to bed or the goblins will get ya’ or ‘Behave or I’ll wish ye away’, that sort of thing,” Ron explained. “Don’t muggles have something like that?”</p><p>“We have the Boogieman,” she offered lamely.</p><p>“Well, he’s like a wizarding boogieman then, not real, but he is a terrifying thought or tool to use against children,” Ron shrugged.</p><p>“When did you stop believing in him?”</p><p>“Dunno, about twelve I think, but only because Percy swore up and down the Goblin King would come and get me if I didn’t leave him alone,” he admitted.</p><p>“Interesting,” Hermione nodded.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>“Well, the lore I have of him he’s this grand figure, virgin sacrifices were sent to him; young girls and boys of fifteen. He would make them run a Labyrinth in lore,” she shrugged. “It’s just interesting and so different from what I see in muggle fairy tales,” she admitted.</p><p>“I was terrified of the Goblin King for so long,” Ron admitted with a shrug as he continued to work. “He was said to be King of Goblins, Fairies, Elves, Trolls, Gnomes, and what not,” Ron muttered absently.</p><p>Hermione made a note of that.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>